<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/18/penguins-in-the-pond-kiwis-in-back-yard-how-a-city-brought-back-its-birds-aoe>
"Some time in the pre-dawn darkness, the commotion starts. From her bed, Danae
Mossman hears the noise building: loud romantic liaisons, vomiting, squeals,
the sound of bodies hitting the pool at full tilt.
Things get particularly loud between midnight and 4am, Mossman says, “when they
are getting busy”.
Mossman’s hard-partying housemates are a flock of kororā, or little penguin,
the world’s smallest, which have formed a growing colony beneath her house in
the Wellington suburb of Karaka Bays on the Miramar peninsula. They use her
lily ponds for pool parties, and during nesting season, they create a stink.
“They go out and get fish, regurgitate it and eat that for three days.”
New Zealand’s Department of Conservation encouraged the birds to move to
specially built nests closer to the sea, but so far they have shown no desire
to leave. So Mossman has come to embrace her housemates, even installing a
ladder in the ponds so the penguins can clamber out.
“We figured if they were happy and safe under our home, then we wouldn’t want
them any place they were more vulnerable,” Mossman says. “The most annoying
thing about them being under the house is how loud they are.”
In many cities, forests and ecosystems around the world, the sounds of nature
are falling silent. But in New Zealand’s capital, people are experiencing a
crescendo in birdsong, thanks to decades of conservation efforts. Some species,
such as the kororā, are still at risk, but many native birds have bounced back
in their thousands, transforming the city’s morning chorus."
Via
Fix the News:
<
https://fixthenews.com/good-news-on-immunisation-conservation-in-mongolia-and-clean-energy-in-china/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
