Rainbow Springs Nature Park & Kiwi Experience 12 Feb 2006

 
  IM003076 IM003077 IM003078 IM003079 HPIM0345  
 
  Rainbow Springs Nature Park and Kiwi Experience are right next to each other All these outdoor places have umbrellas for borrowing next to the entrance. Don't see that in the US! Pool with rainbow trout, with old camera Same pool with new camera - compare colors

 
  IM003080 IM003081 IM003082 IM003083 IM003084  
 
  The baby fish are kept here until they grow enough to transfer to the bigger pool The dark mass on the right top is a school of baby trout. The curling frond is a new fern leaf about to uncurl - in its curled state it's one of the symbols or icons of New Zealand.

 
  IM003086 IM003087 IM003088 HPIM0346 IM003089  
 
  Informative signs and an audio tour teach us a lot Redwood trees next to the path Redwood trees (think California) were planted here in the 1930's. The mild humid climate makes them grow twice as fast here as in California. More curly fern tree fronds

 
  IM003090 IM003091 IM003105 IM003092 IM003093  
 
  Neat birds A pair of birds nestled together. We went in again later and they were still paired together in a different part of the enclosure. Parrots in the top left corner, hiding in the dark

 
  IM003094 IM003107 IM003109 IM003110 IM003111  
 
  Swan - a white "Mute" swan (at the lake house we saw black swans) Bad sun angle - parrot in the bottom right Paradise Duck

 
  IM003113 IM003114 IM003112 IM003097 IM003098  
 
  and another Man that's one big eel! Not very long but very thick. Adult Tuatara lizard (see next photo for info)

 
  IM003100 IM003123 IM003116 IM003117 IM003118  
 
  Baby ones in a separate enclosure The Moa is an extinct bird, native to New Zealand, really was about this big, wiped out by hunting. Only fossil bones remain. Emu

 
  IM003119 IM003120 IM003121 IM003125 IM003126  
 
  pretty wild Big rainbow trout cute little pig

 
  IM003127 IM003128 IM003130 IM003131 IM003134  
 
  black sheep looking for food, but the machine was broken

 
  IM003135 IM003136 IM003137 IM003138 IM003139  
 
  hen sitting on her chick Lots of baby chicks! Tamar Wallaby - a smaller species so this one is full-grown cute ducks

 
  IM003140 IM003141 IM003142 IM003145 IM003146  
 
  man-made waterfall in the park, but still pretty Even the steps on the pathway are beautifully mossy petting an emu - weird feeling feathers They have kiwis here but they're all sleeping - this is just a model :-) "don't litter" etc

 
  IM003102 IM003101 IM003147 IM003149 IM003103  
 
  Tacky Tourist "email your photo here"... but... Typical Microsoft crash - crashed on reboot doing Scandisk :-) Bob is happy - he has m&m's Bob & Sue next to a huge kiwi statue. They're really small birds - smaller than a chicken. We got to see 3 live ones inside the Kiwi Encounter. Across the parking lot is Kiwi Encounter - see kiwi birds. But no cameras allowed inside :-( Kiwi's in the wild are an endangered species - dogs, stouts, feral cats, etc are killing them at a rapid pace. There are 4 species of Kiwi bird and 2 sub-species, some species have only a couple hundred birds remaining.

 
  IM003104  
 
  This private company is trying to reverse their decline. Volunteers find eggs in the wild, incubate them, raise the babies up to survival weight and release them back into the wild. Natural survival rate of chicks is 5%; the Kiwi Encounter volunteers have their released ones at 85%. The Kiwi bird population is still declining but they're hoping it'll turn soon.

To parent directory

created with igal