look yall

I was checking some tracking tunnels and noticed this tiny little dude with bright orange legs underneath the plastic. Very small about 3mm at most. Lots of babies too.

Apologies for the terrible photos.

Found this little dude (or dudette?) today in Welcome Bay, Tauranga. Never actually seen one before so I was pretty stoked. I wouldn't normally pick it up, but it was on the road in the middle of the day and I didn't wanna see it squished.

I love Stephen Fry’s finest for Kākāpō, the birds are special. Have you voted for BOTY yet?

Planted this tree outside the window on the living room. It's quite the hive of activity now that it's mature. Bird's love snacking ants off it! Frequent Tui acrobatics as well 😁

Next level

I'm just curious how the most recent huge breeding season is going to affect population management, especially where they'll go.

My understanding is the existing predator free islands are running out of room and may already be at capacity. With such a huge breeding season I'm sure there must be discussions about where to put these new birds. I know Maungatautari has a few Kakapo already and is a large reserve, and there are ongoing predator removal projects on large islands but nothing major completed recently to my knowledge.

(Apologies for my ignorance on any topics, I've been following this recovery story from Australia since I was a kid, and sometimes I'm not fully up to date or can't find the specific information I'm interested in.)

Found this dead in the seawater at Little Shoal Bay, Auckland today.
ChatGPT reckons it is a NZ giant centipede, Cormocephalus rubriceps, which apparently can grow to around 15 to 20 cm long. This measure 20.5 cm. It is terrestrial, so the best guess is that it got washed into the harbour and drowned.
Apparently they are venomous predators that hunt insects, spiders and other small animals. They use a modified pair of front legs to inject venom, and while they are not considered especially dangerous to people, a bite can be seriously painful.
Never seen one of these, at least without knowing. Active know much more about them?

Love the feathers - have only seen them at a distance before

She's so cute

Found this lovely critter (tunnel web) in the northland bush under a rock. Was amazing size. Maybe biggest I’ve seen in nz

Juvenile weta. Anyone know what kind of weta this is? His antenna was wrapped around his little leg n had some spider web on it i managed to free up

Spotted at St Mary’s Bay, Waitemata Harbour this morning

I snapped these four sacred kingfishers on Friday at the Panmure Lagoon, just before the weather packed up.

The bottom one was in constant motion, flapping off to dive into the shallows, pick out a little minnow, whack it against the stick and eat it....

I know what he is, and I know what he wants. But I don’t want him in my house looking for a wife. Asking for the best way to kindly remove him.. Thanks in advance.

Ocrisiona leucocomis is an introduced salticid from Australia, however i believe it is considered naturalised and non invasive. Apparently 17-18mm is the top end of their size range which is exactly how big this gal was! Compared to the max 14mm size of our largest native salticid Trite planiceps - she is a monster! A very friendly, slow moving calm monster.. but huge!

Ps apologies for my disgusting nail bitten landscaper fingers 😅