On a recent trip to Christchurch, I spent an afternoon with Grant Davey from Ashley Rivercare learning about wrybills (Ngutu pare). Wrybills are unique to New Zealand and the only birds in the world with a beak bent sideways (always to the right) which they use to dig out insects from underneath rounded river stones. They live on braided rivers which they are completely dependent on for breeding. Wrybills, like many of our native bird species have plenty of challenges in life – predation from mustelids, harriers, cats and rats, and disturbance from human related activity such as vehicles driving through and over their nest sites, habitat loss, weeds, and uncontrolled dog walking. Add to that, frequently flooded nest sites made worse by the effects of climate change. I’m sure if people spent time observing them, they’d fall in love with these amazing little birds and want to care for them. Despite multiple nest failures, the parents keep on trying to boost their numbers, and I was absolutely delighted to watch a few of them tending to the next generation. Being small and well camouflaged, they are not easy to spot and their unattended eggs are almost impossible to see. Check out Ashley Rakahuri Rivercare Group to find out more about the birds that live on our Canterbury braided rivers and the work being done to help them https://www.arrg.org.nz/#about. Can you spot the eggs in the image below:
