Willowbank Wildlife Reserve and Farewell

Tēnā koutou: Greetings to all! It has been a wonderful 5 weeks with the 2022 New Zealand study abroad class. Today is our last full day (as a class) to experience New Zealand. We sported our class shirts before heading off for the day.

Class shirts designed by Meryl

Today, after a bit of rain this morning, we gathered once more in the gatorwaka and went to Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. This reserve was founded 40 years ago by the Willis family and it not only educates the public about New Zealand's wildlife, but it also has a variety of conservation programs and partners with a number of different conservation agencies. Here, we toured the native wildlife of New Zealand and also the exotic animals of New Zealand.

Off we go (wildlife tour)

Along the way, we stopped in the Kea aviary, where injured and rehabilitated keas are kept. Keas are the only alpine parrot in the world. They are very endangered and it takes controlling mammalian predators in order for these birds to survive. They are very intelligent birds (some research they are the most intelligent bird), curious, cheeky, and very mischievous. They are well known to pull out the rubber weathering strips found on cars. While in the aviary ..... some of them where very curious ...

Maya and Kea

Debriana and Kea 

Kea (Nestor notabilis)

We did encounter eels on our trip, but it never gets old.....

Feeding the eels

The guide took us into the kiwi encounter. Here, they reverse the photoperiod of the enclosure so kiwis where active during the day. The enclosure was dark and very quiet. We watched a great spotted kiwi and several brown kiwi snuffle around. They are amazing to watch; they are birds but they do behave like mammals. We could not get any photos but I have attached a map of the five species found on the two main islands. The guide explained that the eggs taken in the wild are raised here at willowbank. For example, after 2-3 months, great spotted kiwi chicks are sent to the Paparoa kiwi creche that we saw while we were on the west coast. When they reach a year old, they are released in the wild.

kiwi populations

Other sections of Willowbank are the exotic species section and farm species section. My personal favorite is the kunekune pig - this breed is only found in New Zealand.

kunekune pig

Pukeko (of course)

rabbits (not hares!)

goat

We ended the night with a class celebration and slideshow. Thank you Meryl for prepping me on how to do the slideshow. It is a fun recap of all what the class did and experienced. As a professor, it is rare that we get to teach through "doing." This study abroad course allowed students to be in the field most of the time. Planting, removing invasives, talking with scientists and landowners, experiencing and observing mammal management programs, the students experienced what conservation really means. Further, they experienced the blend of Maori and European cultures to give New Zealand its current modern day  cultural flavor (and food!), I hope the students had many "ahah" moments and it was a pleasure leading the class through the many experiences both good and "difficult." This is truly a resilient bunch. We traversed throughout New Zealand and here are some highlights: 

Walked/hiked at least 100 miles (160km); up and down hills and mountains!

Driven over 2,494 miles (4,014 km); thank goodness for tea time!

Weeded/planted native plantings in 7 conservation/restoration areas; did it offset our carbon flight footprint?

Seen over 100 species of plants and animals including a baby kiwi, and white-flippered penguin in the wild!

Experienced tea time! Remember to make this a new habit in your daily routine back in the U.S.A.

Consumed lots of snacks like chocolate, CARROTS, FROGS (yes frogs), crackers and cookies; ahem... it was cold out... needed the calories.

Listened to Dr H's bad dad jokes (last one: "I know a lot of jokes about retired people, but none of them work"). (one more: "If a child refuses to nap, are they guilty of resisting a rest?")

Our 2022 iwi

Dear Ashley, Ava, Charisse, Debriana, Haiden, Hanna, Maya, Nico, Ryan, and Veronica:

Thank you. Hope that our time together has been as special to you as it has been to us and that it is a lasting memory for you through your future travels and endeavors. May you someday come back to this corner of the earth with your own family, and, as you walk among the restoration projects you have helped with, tell them the stories of our time together.

Safe travels!   Drs. Hostetler and Meurk and Meryl (from afar)

Sleep tight! Dr. H

One last adventure

Kia Ora! We woke up early today so we could squeeze kayaking in before the forecasted afternoon rains. Luckily, we were successful and we had a wonderful time kayaking.

The drive to the kayaking spot gave us lovely views of Akaroa harbor and the crater rim. Seven million years ago, volcanic eruptions formed a crater and 7,000 years ago one of the crater walls failed, allowing water in to form Akaroa harbor. We drove from the inside of the crater to a bay on the outer edge. 

The class at a crater rim viewpoint

A couple of penguins

We kayaked in Flea Bay, originally named Pōhatu meaning “land of many stones,” referencing the area’s use by the Māori for growing kumara. Pōhatu Bay is part of the Pōhatu Marine Reserve, established in 1999 in an effort to protect the penguin colony in the bay. When the reserve was established, they had 300 breeding pairs. With rigorous predator control, that number rose to 1,260 breeding pairs in 2015-2016. However, even though trapping efforts are higher than ever, the population has declined to 900 breeding pairs due to fish decline from La Niña. This still makes Pōhatu Bay the largest penguin colony on the New Zealand mainland.

Pōhatu Bay

Pōhatu bay houses the white-flippered penguin. As mentioned in the blog on July 28th, the white-flippered penguin is a subspecies of little blue penguin unique to the Canterbury region that is distinguished by the white edging it’s flippers. These penguins are also a lighter blue to match the water of the region, which is light blue due to glacial silt discharged from the alps. The valley is full of nest boxes all up and down the cliff sides (yes these tiny penguins will make the trek up steep cliffs to nest up to 800 meters inland) and many of the boxes are labeled with names or are decorated in some way. We were able to see a pair in a nesting box as well as some penguins on the rocks in the bay. 

Penguin houses

Penguin pair!

We kayaked around the bay, up one side and down the other. We paddled by seals, shags, and oystercatchers on the rocks. In the cliff-sides, we could see evidence of the land’s volcanic past. Distinct layers of rock, black at the bottom and fading to brown then red at the top with black rock indicating hot, slow-cooling magma and red rock indicating ash mixed with sediment. Each layer is from a different eruption. The sides of the harbor were pocked with caves which started as gas bubbles trapped in cooling lava and which were opened to the sea and expanded by erosion. Some of these caves were quite big and we were even able to kayak inside one!

Rock layers in the cliffs

Paddling into a cave

The group spots a penguin

Our kayaking adventure ended with a series of races. Nico and Maya were the fastest going forwards, but Debriana and Veronica won the backwards race.

Back on land, we wrapped up the day with a great dinner at The Laboratory. Love the class shirts! 

Group photo!

On to Willowbank Wildlife Reserve tomorrow and then back to Florida on Monday.

Thanks for a great class!

Veronica