New Zealand is located in the Southern Hemisphere. It is now early summer and summer is gradually approaching. This time, we will tell you about animal news that happened in New Zealand during "spring".
First, let's talk about the announcement of the Bird of the Year .
Even in New Zealand, the bird kingdom, half of the bird species are said to be facing some kind of threat. The Bird of the Year Awards are held to highlight these birds and raise awareness of wild birds.
Many birds are nominated for the Bird of the Year award, which is chosen by public vote online, but which bird took first place this year?
Number one is a bird...?
Voting for New Zealand's Bird of the Year, organised by Forest & Bird , a national organisation that protects forests and birds, took place on a website in October.
As a result, here is the number one item of 2021...!
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What? Is this... a bat...?
That's right, the bat that has been chosen as "Bird of the Year" is the long-tailed bat , a species endemic to New Zealand, called pekapeka-tou-roa in Maori.
Bats are terrestrial mammals, but only two species of bat, including the long-tailed bat, are endemic to New Zealand.
This time, a bat, which is not a bird, was chosen, but according to a spokesperson for Forest & Bird,
Bat of the Year is not interesting because there are only two kinds.
So it seems they have lumped them together with birds.
However, thanks to this project, it seems that the fact that New Zealand has endemic bats has become more widely known.
This season, we have close-ups of eggs!
Here is the latest news from the Otago Peninsula, home to albatrosses , which we often report on in New Zealand News.
We have been watching the albatross chicks through live streaming since the beginning of the year. We were sad to see them leave the nest at the end of September, but the 2021/2022 breeding season has already begun.
139 albatrosses have been spotted in the habitat, 72 of which are nursing eggs (pairs of albatrosses work together to nurse the eggs and raise the young).
12/12 18:11 #RoyalCam egg flip. Albatross are loyal to their eggs, but OK OGK time to switch.
Once YRK is on her egg, OGK stays awhile tidying up the nest area. He finally departs, after 8 days, to refuel for his next shift. https://t.co/j8o6Zmg7W8 pic.twitter.com/PWfMlNAf58 — RoyalAlbatrossCam (@RoyAlbatrossCam) December 12, 2021
These are YRK and OGK , who raised Atawhai , the chick that was released in 2019/2020.
Albatrosses raise their young every two years, so they were in good health again this season. In the video above, you can see the two of them taking turns incubating the eggs. You can also see the eggs. The nest is also very well-constructed, with a clear shape.
The eggs are expected to hatch at the end of January next year. How many chicks will be born this year?
Highlights of Tiaki, the star of the 2020/2021 season streams, have been released on the channel of Cornell Lab, which is collaborating with the streams.The world's smallest penguin is also broadcasting live
New Zealand, the "Penguin Kingdom," is home to half of all penguin species in the world.
Among them, the baby of the world's smallest penguin , Kororā, can now be seen on live streaming. Kororā, also known as the Little penguin (kogata penguin in Japanese), is a small penguin that only grows to 35-45cm in length and weighs about 1kg.
*This video is currently unavailable.
This spring, a camera was installed at the nest off the coast of the capital, Wellington, and streaming has begun on YouTube.
The Kororā live on coasts all over New Zealand.
However, there aren't that many of them, and they're nocturnal, so they often go unnoticed. The aim of the livestream is to get as many people as possible to feel closer to these little penguins, who may actually be nearby.
By the way, little penguin pairs generally stay together for life, but sometimes they end up breaking up, similar to human messy divorces.
Once they have successfully bred, they return to the same nest every year. They seem to nest in pretty much anything, including caves near the sea, rock crevices, and under logs, but also in buildings, pipes, and even human-made nest boxes.
The live broadcast this time shows chicks in a nest box made by humans.
Little penguins are said to be very talkative, so you may be able to hear their noisy cries from inside the nest.
