Feathers and Sails

Wellington, July 19th 2015

Wellington Harbour (The Wharf) where I met new friends that could do both, swim and fly.

Before I arrived in New Zealand, I made a list of "first time" things such as first time granted a one-year-multiple-entry visa without making special requirement, first time flying Southwards, etc. It was a long enough list and ended with "First time to NZ". That's it, I thought. No.

The "First Time List" kept on going.

Red-billed gull

On first sight I thought this was a pigeon. I didn't pay attention to the feet... until I saw them floating like a duck on the sea. What? Pigeons can swim?

New Zealand certainly provides more than one's brain can hold. What do you want to know more about? Sea life? Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium. Plants? Zealandia Karori Sanctuary. Life on the Antarctica? International Antarctica Centre. Transportation? MOTAT. Even visitor information centres are sometimes more a visitor education centre.

So what bird is this that can soar high into the sky and yet float swiftly like a duck? To my amazement there's what's called "New Zealand Bird Online: The digital encyclopedia of New Zealand Birds". Red-billed gull, Larus novaehollandiae. Got it identified! Yeehaa!

Black-billed gull

Reading through the online encyclopedia, I learned that there's also a black-billed gull. Yippee! I did take a picture of it, unknowingly. A more reason to be proud of myself was that:

The black-billed gull has the undesirable status of being the most threatened gull species in the world. Though still relatively abundant, numbers of birds in Southland, the national stronghold, are rapidly declining. Nevertheless, colonies can still number in the thousands. The black-billed gull is found only in New Zealand, unlike our two other common gull species. They are less likely to be found in towns and cities than the other gulls, and are not commonly observed scavenging for food. Interestingly, though declining overall, the black-billed gull has recently expanded its breeding range in the North Island, and now breeds as far north as the Kaipara Harbour.

according to the online encyclopedia. Therefore, I should consider myself privileged. Well, for me it is.

Southern black-backed gull

And this? What is this? I couldn't identify it through the online encyclopedia, so I sent an email. Wow. Dr. Colin Miskelly a curator from Te Papa Tongerewa Museum answered. It's a Southern black-backed gull that

starts life with mottled brown plumage and black beaks and do not develop black-and-white plumage with yellow beaks until about 4 years old.

Swans and ducks on sea water.

 This was another lesson for me. I had always thought that swans and ducks live on freshwater only.

A city of sails, second only to Auckland.

Wellington's Finest Marina

That was my open-air school for the day.