A few days back whilst toiling away in my workshop I spotted two kereru or wood pigeons land in a gleditsia tree about 35 metres down the back lawn. At the time I was busy making up tui feeder orders so decided to admire them from a distance and continue with my work.
This was never going to last because all I could think about was how great they would look on video. Usually I don’t need much of an excuse to take a break and this was one of those occasions. Just one of the many advantages of working from home.
Pigeons often visit this time of the year to eat berries from the various trees that we planted about 13 years back for this very reason.
As I was filming I thought back on the recent much publicised case of Norwegian tourists shooting Kereru whilst on a hunting trip to New Zealand. I just couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to kill such a magnificent bird. Such a pity that they were not apprehended and prosecuted as the penalties for killing birds like these can be as much as $100,000. Regardless of who you are there is absolutely no justifiable reason for hunting them.
It would be real tragedy if these beautiful birds were wiped out due to poaching as they already have many other predators to deal with. Often I can get within just a few metres of them therefore it certainly wouldn’t be difficult to hunt them.
If we all play our part we all can enjoy the beauty of the Kereru for many years to come. We are very lucky indeed to have these beautiful birds visiting our garden as they are truly magnificent.
At some stage when time permits I hope to erect a Keruru feeding station somewhere in the garden to attract more of them. I’ve not heard of anyone being successful in doing this but its worth a try. Any help or advice concerning this would be very welcome.
