NZ Morepork (Ruru)A couple evenings ago I was sitting at my home PC, as usual, reading international news. My husband came in quickly, opened the window and said "listen...!".
We heard the distinct call of a Morepork. With the Woodpigeon I spotted last weekend in the yard, there is no doubts about it: this week in NZ, spring has sprung. Birds who have been elsewhere for food last 3 months of NZ winter... are returning.
Moreporks, small native NZ owls and nocturnal birds of prey are:
* Speckled brown with yellow eyes set in a dark facial mask. They have a short tail.
* The females are bigger than the males.
* Head to tail they measure around 29cm and the average weight is about 175g.
* They have acute hearing and are sensitive to light.
* They can turn their head through 270 degrees.
The Morepork (Ninox novaeseelandiae) is New Zealand’s only surviving native owl.
"The Morepork menu more usually includes moths and beetles caught on the wing as well as small animals such as mice, baby rats, lizards and birds usually no larger than themselves. This type of prey is commonly eaten whole with indigestible bits like the bones and feathers being regurgitated in a sausage shaped pellet from the mouth."
"Talking of large shining eyes, Ruru is an important part of Maori mythology and tradition. For example, many of the carved figures seen on Maori meeting houses have had their eyes modeled on Ruru and when performing the war dances of the haka and the pukana the glaring looks from the Maori warriors are also imitating the fiery little owl."
"In Maori tradition the morepork was seen as a watchful guardian. It belonged to the spirit world as it is a bird of the night. Although the more-pork or ruru call was thought to be a good sign, the high pitched, piercing, ‘yelp’ call was thought to be an ominous forewarning of bad news or events."
We'll try to make our new backyard garden bird friendly to Morepork and other native birds we see all summer: Wood pigeon, Tui - even Eastern Rosellas ... (No Pukekos in our yard though, we live in the trees.)
Welcome back birds...
Welcome back spring...
this was brilliant
ReplyDeletethanks anonymous :-)
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