Auckland: Birds and the bees

Tawharanui National Park. Photo / Tristan Cullen

Catherine Smith makes friends with feathered creatures great and small on a Habitat Tour.

I really need to get myself an anorak. Perhaps even a scruffy notebook and a pair of binoculars, as I think I am turning into a twitcher.

I'll blame Tristan Cullen of Habitat Tours. This keen volunteer with Tawharanui Open Sanctuary Society Inc (TOSSI) turned his hobby into a business last summer, when he joined forces with his mum, Pamela, to run Habitat Tours, guided walks in some of Auckland's best nature spots.

Last weekend he was leading us through Tawharanui's open sanctuary with a list of special birds that we were going to spot. I had been to the beach countless times, read plenty about the predator-proof fence that was installed in 2004 to help the regeneration of habitat for the birds, but had never wandered up into the ecology trail in the deepest bush to see exactly what this means.

Tristan apparently knows every tree and bird in the place: there's nothing like walking with an insider to open your eyes to just what's going on in the eco-system. He pointed out the first nursery plants, manuka and kanuka, which support the more delicate natives being established by both bird droppings and human planting bees. But it was deep in the virgin bush - miraculously spared the burn-offs by early Europeans of most of the peninsula's 588ha - that I really understood just what the volunteers are trying to do.

The space is dark, primitive and teeming with birds that are rarely seen on the mainland. Some, like the saddleback, have introduced themselves here from island sanctuaries like Tiritiri Matangi.

Others are precious new species, hand released and carefully monitored. I wish I'd downloaded the bird list from tossi.org.nz (there are reputedly 89 species now in the sanctuary), but Tristan was there to point out the highlights.

As well as spotting the usual tui, fantails, bellbird and kereru, we were also transfixed by a fat, cheeky kaka (the famous New Zealand parrot), the extremely rare brown teal (wisely hanging out in a protected area for the start of duck hunting season), teeny grey warblers and whiteheads.

But the supreme prize was our 10 minutes with a pair of fat takahe - one of only 14 introduced this summer to the park. The near-extinct birds are here to breed, so bristled with monitoring wires, but even Tristan didn't know whether this was a male/female couple. While they share the same colours as the common pukeko - blue black feathers, red beaks and legs - these birds were big and ponderous, with hilarious grunty calls. They poked and prodded to within a couple of metres of us while we filmed on our cameras. If only I'd had that notebook!

The finishing touch was Pamela's picnic lunch. She shows off the best of Kiwiana to the mostly international clientele with beaut home-made mince or bacon and egg pies, fresh salads, Anzac cookies served on old-school enamel plates on a checked wool blanket.

Bird watching is suddenly a whole lot more glamorous.

There's a lot to see off the beaten track at Tawharanui Regional Park. Photo / Tristan Cullen

NEED TO KNOW

Habitat Tours: Next week Tristan and Pamela are offering a Conservation and Tour Combo at Tawharanui Regional Park, where you can join the volunteer tree planting, with a splendid lunch and afternoon tea and a Tristan-guided tour. $100 per person, departing Auckland City. May 28, 29, 30 and 31 (other dates on request). Phone: 21 422707 or 0800 422 868 (0800 HABTOUR) for more details.

Tawharanui Open Sanctuary Society Inc: Visit their hut at the beginning of the ecology trail for terrific information on the habitat.

Auckland Council planting days: Winter planting is about to start in our regional parks. This weekend you can help at Scandrett Park (tomorrow, 10am) with Sunday planting days in the next few weekends at Waitawa, Shakespear and Tapapakanga Regional Parks (until July 19); there are more planting days at Tawharanui on July 5 and August 2.