This week was the 18th birthday of fortnightly run route through southwestern Ōtautahi-Christchurch, NZ. This is my 10.1 km route where I've been counting and mapping all the birds and butterflies and assorted other species.
I started the route on 9 July 2008, while on parental leave, pushing my baby daughter around in a buggy during her afternoon nap. I wanted her to be able to know how the city's nature changes over her lifetime. I've been doing it ever since (and have added three other routes to cover other parts of the city).
In celebration of the route's 18th birthday, here are all the korimako (NZ bellbirds) I've seen and heard. Korimako have been a huge success story for the city. The native forest regeneration and pest control happening in the city's Port Hills have led to booming numbers of korimako, and the native tree plantings in the city have been attracting birds out from the hills.
As my run route has shown, within the city the korimako are mostly in areas of native tree plantings and in gardens with mature bird nectar plants (especially kōwhai, banksia, eucalyptus, and harakeke). Korimako are still largely absent from the areas of housing that don't have any of these.
(We still need many more native trees in the city if we want more native birds.)
#wildcounts #EcologicalMonitoring #birds #Christchurch #Ōtautahi #NZ #nature #ecology
