Sharing is caring!
I still remember the first time I saw a Weka here in New Zealand. She was traveling around the South Island, staying in a cute cabin in the woods on the west coast. On a humid, warm day, I left the door open, hoping for a breeze. First rookie mistake. Leave nothing open when visiting the West Coast in the bush. You will be wiped out by sandflies.
I looked up from my book and saw a large, fat brown bird wandering inside, circling fearlessly around. What is this? I had no idea. I spent the next 10 minutes walking around with it, encouraging it to go outside while it pooped everywhere. Not a good first meeting with weka. Later I would find out that they can poop their weight in one day. respect.
But they didn't really increase my respect until recently.
But I have just returned from an adventure on the Heaphy Track. As you might have guessed, there were a lot of weka there. And although I think it's an annoying bird, it doesn't get enough love because it's a cheeky, funny, and charismatic bird. Please give me a chance to repay them.
Weka in New Zealand has that attitude. They are not afraid of many things, including people, and are very curious. They will come right up to you begging for food (don't feed them) and will snatch anything if you are not careful. This is around places where people gather. Further afield it's a little less bold.
On my first day walking the Hippie Track, while eating lunch under a small shelter, I was quickly mobbed by four weka. One dog was particularly brave and came right up to me, literally growling at me when I tried to shoo it away. Or whatever the weka equivalent of the growling sound is. It's more like an angry scream that sounds like you've been smoking for 50 years. Anything. I understood what it meant. Instead of backing down, this bold weka stared down at me until I finished my cracker. It's a really powerful move.
But you have to hand it to them. In a country where native birds are dying left, right and centre, the Weka seems to have no sense of self-preservation whatsoever. Live free or die!
In New Zealand's scheme of things, the weka is not a particularly sexy bird. She is fluffy and inconspicuous, like a kiwi. They do not have the brilliant colors of kea. They do not come back from the dead like Takahe, nor do they fall drunk from trees like Kereru.
But the Weka is beautiful in its own way. And those women? Oh my god it's so cute; They look like lumps of dark brown fluff. And that makes sense, because not all baby birds are cute. And they are very interesting.
The cunning weka, a large, brown, flightless bird, is a sturdy, massive creature in the rail family. Sometimes the larger ones are almost perfectly round, like balls with legs. There are four subspecies, and their color ranges from chestnut to tan to dark brown. Some have a bit of gray or black mixed in as well. When scared, they often leap upright and run around with their tail feathers erect, giving them an almost cartoon-like appearance.
New world extroverts have red eyes, which are beautiful but a little intimidating if they're staring at you.
Invertebrates and fruit make up the main diet of the weka, and they tear up both grass and gardens in search of food. I can almost see grumpy old men yelling at disobedient young people to get off the lawn.
I have seen wekas preying on dead creatures and even grazing on the shoreline and tide pools. The good thing is that they catch and eat pests such as rabbits, mice, and rats here. However, they also eat other lizards, birds, chicks and eggs, especially if they target vulnerable species. Weka plays for his team.
Because of these predatory tendencies, weka are generally not welcome on predator-free coastal islands or ecological reserves (although some have been reintroduced to their own islands). I find this fascinating! I was kicked out of the Rare Bird Club. idiot.
However, people still eat weka near the Chatham Islands, and there is a small movement to farm weka here as well. And by little movement I mean a rouge farmer with porridge on the dining hill in the weka. “I’m ready to go to jail for that. You imprisoned me and made me a martyr.” lol. I love living in New Zealand.
And here we are, thinking that Australia is the only place where you can eat the iconic animal.
Anyway, we're still a long way from having fried weka at the local pub. Does it fry? Or is it closer to a roast? I don't know. I just did some searching with no definitive answer. I hope I don't end up on a list somewhere.
After all, although wekas are fully protected here on the mainland, they still face the same threats as other native birds, especially predation, habitat loss, food shortage/competition, and being hit by cars. Their populations have surged and collapsed, and their distribution has been greatly shaken. Some are okay, others are not. There are recovery plans to return them to their original homelands. Bring back the Weka.
The gregarious weka have long been important to some of New Zealand's Maori iwi as a valuable source of food, oil and feathers. Many early European settlers wrote about their great character and thievery. But what I really want to know is who they harassed before they came here.
Weka doesn't tell you how to live your life. And I respect that.
I can't tell you how many times I've met travelers to New Zealand raving about how many kiwis they've seen in the wild. “Oh my gosh, we saw about a dozen kiwi during the day in Punakaiki! That is really cool!” Our national bird is beautiful, fluffy, nocturnal, and most importantly, endangered.
You've seen a lot of weka. Whether I burst the bubble or not depends on my mood. I really enjoy correcting people, but I try not to do it as much because I know it's not one of my better qualities.
But I don't want you to know how I feel tonight because it's merciless. But you'll never stumble across a kiwi by accident. You need to know where they hang out and go looking for them at night, but you might not even see them. Rakiura/Stewart Island is one of the places where you are most likely to see kiwi in the wild.
But if we can all get on board the conservation train that is Predator Free 2050, we might one day stumble upon a dozen kiwis in the wild. How cool would that be?
So to be honest weka has actually risen against me. I've learned to overlook their annoying attitudes in favor of their feisty, take-no-prisoners attitude. You'll probably see them on your trip to New Zealand, and any experience with a weka would be quite fun. Unstoppable, they persevered in many ways and left their mark on us. Especially if they have ever stolen your car keys.
They have a unique story and history and deserve to stand tall in our national new standard. Inspirational. There is no fear. Challenging.
So perhaps I will take a page out of their book and try to live my life with Weka confidence.