The Fledglings of Birds

Some folks may have seen Children of Men, an excellent movie set in the future when a section of England is the only place on earth still protected from the violence of the hordes and the ravages of climate change across the rest of planet earth. In the movie there is a huge fence to protect the last privileged humans...

So today we visited the Maungatautari Ecological Island (meaning suspended mountain or mountain of upright rock in Maori), an ancient volcano thrusting skyward in the middle of the pastureland of the Waikato, not far from Hamilton. Maungatautari is a parallel universe to Children of Men, only the hordes are the invasive mammals on the outside and the endangered species of New Zealand birds are the privileged on the inside. To protect the birds there are 47 kms of enormous metal fence (8500 3-metre metal fence posts), which resembles a fence that surrounds a maximum security prison. The holes in the fence are no more than 6 mm wide, because a baby mouse is 8 mm. Below ground the fence forms an L, 3 metres high and going a metre horizontal underground on the outside to stop digging rodents. On the outside top is a reverse overhang to stop climbers. On the very top is a solar electric wire so that if a tree falls on the wire, it shorts and automatically sends a text to the fence security person saying the fence integrity has been compromised. Security has 90 minutes to respond as video cameras along the fence line show there is an invasive mammal trying to get in every 90 minutes on average (possum, rat, stoat, ferret, etc.).

Given all of this, the 3400 hectare forested volcano is pest (mammal) free except for small populations of mice. As the result, the forests are exploding with growth and they have reintroduced populations of endangered birds that are now breeding. In a couple of cases there is only one other place in the wild where this is occurring for these species. We saw a Hihi today, of which there are believed to be only about 250 alive. They have 40 Kiwi and there were 10 new chicks this spring (your fall). Also there are a number of Kaka, an endangered North Island parrot and close relative of the Kea, the South Island mountain parrot, which is believed to be the smartest bird on earth. It is quite magical to enter through the security fence. To enter from the wide-open car park and field area, first, push a button and the metal door opens into the biosecurity holding cage. Shut the first door and you can push the button to open the second door that allows you to leave the holding cage and enter the dark rainforest full of multitudes of different plant species and birds. It is a world of pre-European contact.

 A Kaka at a feeding station (sorry, I missed the Hihi with the camera)

So what does this all mean? It is unbelievable that a non-profit organization has raised more than 20 million dollars to protect and restore this huge, magical place, and admission is free! It is an amazing tribute to what people (Pakeha and Maori) can accomplish to protect and restore nature.

               Stairway to Heaven (the Tree Tops)

                                              Looking down into the treetops (these are large trees)

There are hundreds of volunteers and an amazing human story behind it all, with both great ups and downs, full of passion, charisma, hope, faith, injustice and malevolence (that human/community story is too long and complicated to tell here). This is a dramatic feature film waiting for a filmmaker (Evan?). Shall we call it the Fledglings of Birds? Of course then one has to scratch one’s head and think that all this has to be done to protect an ecological island against the idiocy of colonialism and human stupidity. The mammals are here because the British purposefully brought them. They felt that Aotearoa was uncivilized and undeveloped. It needed to have mammals to be more like “home”… hmm, now is it coincidental that in Children of Men the last bastion of a “civilized” and privileged lifestyle was protected behind metal fences in England?

P.S. To learn more about Maungatautari, check out www.maungatrust.org. Read the news links on the recent introduction of North Island Robins and Kokaka.

One of hundreds of volunteers showing off a mouse tracking sheet 

which monitors population size. The tracking ink sheet goes in a 

dark tube with bait and the mice run through to get the food. 

Population estimates are based on the percent of tubes tramped 

through on a given night