Have you noticed that when you travel outside of Wellington, birds that you are familiar with here can sound slightly or even substantially different? This is because, like people, birds have regional dialects! 

Over the next few weeks, if you happen to wander by a māpou/red matipo tree you might hear a soft pitter-patter of dropping fruit or perhaps the occasional quiet chatter. Pause for a moment, peer upwards, and see if you can spot the source of the noise: a kākāriki/red-crowned parakeet.

Sadly, earlier this month the beloved takahē Orbell died at age of 23.

We just celebrated Te Wiki te Reo Māori which is an annual celebration for all New Zealanders to show their support for the Māori language, an official language of this country. Want to know what te reo Māori can teach us about nature?

With the end of August, the signs of spring are beginning to show all around us. Tūī and kererū have been regularly spotted around the brightly flowering kōwhai, and kōtukutuku/tree fuchsia flowers are strewn along the paths of the valley.

Earlier this month, our solid sanctuary biosecurity systems put in place by our conservation team were put to the test, with a weasel discovered dead in a DOC200 trap at the southern end of the sanctuary. The good news about this is that our safeguarding systems are working.

Kākā are more than just a beautiful sight in Wellington—they’re a success story for Zealandia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and conservation as a whole. It all started 25 years ago when Zealandia's fence went up and so did the hopes of bringing wildlife back to Wellington.

The last of the captive population of pepeketua/Hamilton’s frogs have been released from their enclosure following the opening of a new boardwalk that was built to protect them from human foot traffic. This boardwalk was made possible through generous funding from the estate of John Nankervis. Lead Ranger Ellen Irwin shares some of the mahi/work that went into planning for this release.

Despite things slowing down in winter, preparing for the upcoming breeding season keeps our rangers busy. We provide a few different bird species with nest boxes, which mimic the natural cavities found in larger trees.

A key part of our 500-year vision for Zealandia is a towering canopy of podocarps. Podocarps are Aotearoa New Zealand’s tallest trees, such as rimu, kahikatea, and tōtara. While we generally let the forest regenerate by itself, each year, the Conservation team does some planting to facilitate the establishment of species that would not otherwise come back into the sanctuary, including podocarps and rare and threatened plant species.