Wildlife Autumn 2007 (spring wildlife Down Under)

[Maggi Young]

a House Spider walked on to the inside of the wind screen. I had to do an emergency stop and jump out

yeah, I knew they were dangerous

Re: George Dubya.... does he still drink or is it just that he's thick?

[Anthony Darby]

Rob and Sharon, your sphinx moth is a North American race of the "Striped Hawkmoth" (Hyles lineata). It is an irregular visitor to Britain and it larva, which varies from green to black, with yellow spots and lines and an orange horn feeds on various plants but mainly bedstraws and vines. I must say, that is a fantastic shot with everything in focus. A competition winner if ever I saw one.

[Maggi Young]

I must say, that is a fantastic shot with everything in focus. A competition winner if ever I saw one.

Hear, Hear, Anthony. I love the way there is that elegant twist/sweep of the wingtips. A supermodel of the moth world, photographed for Vogue!!

[Lesley Cox]

I just hope George W. doesn't spot the launch codes on his desk some day and decide to order Chinese (launch codes - lunch codes - Chinese...oh, suit yourselves.)

Good God Martin, you've got me REALLY worried now. I've looked on the man's boo-boos as laughable but the fact is, he's a real menace.

Maggi, if they were to eat junos, they'd have to have their taste buds re-educated - with a sledgehammer! - a la GWB

[Martin Baxendale]

No, Maggi, George W. don' drink no more. So I guess it's all his own work. I swear sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[Maggi Young]

Laugh, Martin but build yourself a bunker, too.

[Lesley Cox]

Two actual wildlife notes here.

Last night our TV news reported that the first godwits had returned to NZ from their summer (southern winter) feeding gounds in Alaska. Much has been assumed about the time taken for this journey and the exact routes but now we know precisely as some 400 birds had, before leaving Alaska, been fitted with tiny (2 gram) satellite tracking devices as leg bands.

The first birds were seen leaving on the 11,000 kms journey on Monday and landed here in NZ early on Saturday morning, having flown at a steady 60kms an hour, non stop across and down over the Pacific Ocean, believed to be a record for such migratory flights. Before the birds leave Alaska they feed voraciously, doubling their weight but by the time they arrive here they have lost all that extra weight plus half as much again of their "normal" weight, so are close to starving and have to feed immediately.

This is quite natural to the godwits - birds viewed with great affection in NZ - and can be taken for granted by humans therefore, but it's very hard not to have huge admiration for what seems to be their courage and commitment in undertaking this long flight, twice every year.

Secondly - and from the sublime to the thoroughly ridiculous - last night, our neighbours threw a party as they do on such occasions, to celebrate the beginning of the World Rugby Cup in France. There are just half a dozen houses in Sproull Drive and we were all there, along with 20 or 30 people out from town. (I notice there are still half a dozen cars still parked on the roadside this morning.)

The road is a dead end so can be used when necessary as a playground, for children, dogs or, in this instance, by the party goers. Accompanied by a good deal of liquid refreshment, there was a chicken chucking competition!!! I think it had been frozen but by the time we started throwing it, it was limp and floppy and flew through the air with the greatest of ease. There were separate competitions for men and women (Roger and I were not winners) and needless-to-say there was much hilarity, bad language and general good natured abuse of each chucker in turn. Not something I'd want to do every day (or ever again, actually) but it was fun while it lasted. Afterwards, we all went inside to watch the All Blacks beat Italy rather thoroughly.

I'd already had my first slice of enjoyment from the World Cup, in the morning at the local Farmers' Market (where I'm Manager) by giving the glad news that Argentina had beaten France in the first match of the tournament, to one of our two coffee vendors. Olivier Lequeux is a Frenchman of great charm usually but had had a rough night out and really wasn't up to his job at 7 in the morning. As I bought my coffee, tears almost poured down his exceptionally good-looking cheeks. I'm not normally sadistic but have to admit to rubbing the result in, each time I passed his coffee stand. Of course every member of the public soon got the message and added to his misery. A small price to pay though, given his turnover each Saturday morning.

[mark smyth]

Migratory birds are great full stop.

Talking to a man tonight who runs out bird observatory he tells me our bird migration is already well under way. They have seen 1000s of swallows heading for England and many warblers. In good weather like we are having the warblers, ChiffChaffs Phylloscopus collybita and Willow Warblers P. trochilus, can cross the sea without stopping but in windy weather they need a breather on the island. He has planted a one mile woodland corridor to help the birds feed.

In Europe what do you call the Chiffchaff? Our name is after it's song chiff, chiff, chiff chaff, chiff chaff

Whooper swans arrive here in 24 hours after leaving Iceland

[illingworth]

Thank you Anthony for the correct ID for the moth and your comment. I have posted more views on my Flickr site. It is a common moth in our garden at this time of year. They will be gone with the first heavy frost.

I give you and other Forum members credit for increasing my interest in insects in all their wonderful variety. We do need to get a good manual to assist in the ID.

-Rob

[Gerdk]

Mark,
Never heared Phylloscopus collybita singing ' chiff, chiff, chiff chaff, chiff chaff '.
Our little beauties always shout ' zilp zalp ' according their German name Zilpzalp.
Gerd

[Peter Maguire]

Mark,
An old field guide I have lists the common names of European birds in Dutch, French, German and Swedish. As Gerd says the German name is Zilpzalp - for completeness the others are Dutch - Tjiftjaf, French - Pouillot veloce, Swedish - Gransangare (The first 'e' in veloce has an acute accent and the second 'a' in Swedish has one of those little circles over it - I can't manage either of those on an English keyboard).

Now you have the full set for Phylloscopus collybita!

Peter

[Anthony Darby]

Peter, go into 'Word' and 'Insert' 'Symbol'. Copy and paste does it, like Jānis rukšāns.

[Paul T]

Mark,

You're not alone with your spider inside the car problems...... a number of years ago my sister and I were driving along and the long furry legs of a large huntsman spider started to curl around the edge of the sun visor in front of me.  We quickly pulled over and got out of the car.  With a quickness of wit I wish I could normally match (it rarely happens unfortunately) I looked across the roof of the car at my sister and said "OK, it's got the car.  Now what do we do?"

We ended up being able to flick it out of the car and quickly drove off before it could bring reinforcements and take the car off for a joyride. <sigh>  My arachnophobia is variable.... there are times where I can sit with my face a few inches from a hunstman and marvel at the way the mandibles are set up and how wolf-like the face comes across, then there are times where I can be on the other side of a room shivering over a spider sitting on the OUTSIDE of an external window of the house.  I just never know quite how I'm going to react. 

Lesley,

I can get the first of the wildlife notes you mentioned (i.e the return of the Godwits), but where exactly is the second wildlife note you promised?  Or do you regard a thawed frozen chicken as wildlife? 

[Lesley Cox]

You've got it Paul Of course the even wilder life could have been the idiots throwing it. Just in case anyone wondered, the chicken, by the time it was introduced to the game, was dead. Not only dead but plucked and gutted. I suspect it came from the supermarket's freezer.

[ashley]

... and tiuf-teaf in Irish, so onomatopoeic in various languages