Since a park in Wellington, New
Zealand, fenced out rats, stoats, and other predators, rare indigenous birds
have returned to the city.
Zealandia covers 550 acres in
Wellington. Birds breeding in safety inside its protective fence have spread to
other parts of the city.
By Emma Marris
PUBLISHED JANUARY 17, 2018
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND
We make our way down a steep
wooded slope, holding onto trees and bracing our feet sideways against roots.
We’re off trail, but Paul Ward, an app
designer and self-described “lifelong bird nerd,” knows the way.
All at once we come upon a young
man, blonde and bearded, sitting alone on the ground. He’s gazing meditatively
at a homemade parrot box.
The man has the hipster air of a
musician or student, and he may well be both, but right now he’s a
volunteer—for the Polhill Protectors,
a Wellington citizens’ group working to make this urban park, called the
Polhill Reserve, into a safe haven for rare native birds. Every few weeks he
sits for an hour at this box to keep track of whether kaka parrots are nesting
in it.
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