Cryptic Stick Insects - now you see them, now you don't

Stick insects (rō in Māori) are curious creatures. Kids (and adults) find them fascinating because of their obvious likeness to sticks. It's easy to spot them walking across a window or on the side of the house but they merge so well into their surroundings on a tree that you might be surprised just how many are in your garden.

These large, intriguing vegetarians are everywhere, although they seem to have trees that are their favourites.

Stick insect on its favourite mānuka tree

Sitting in my garden recently, I recalled how many stick insects I'd seen on a particular tree in February last year. I looked at the tree, a mānuka, and idly said to myself "I wonder why there aren't any there this year". Curiosity drew my gaze back to the tree, suddenly I realised I could see a stick insect where before I thought the bark was bare. I looked harder, another stick insect 'appeared'. I got closer and started to count - there were a dozen stick insects in a 25 cm x 30 cm area!

Tūī Takeover - tūī chicks growing up in the garden

I always enjoy spending the quiet of the Christmas - New Year break in Pukerua Bay. People leave the cities and suburbs for holiday spots, leaving us to enjoy a laid back week or so in our little suburban village. The bonus this year has been settled warm weather so I'm spending more time relaxing in our wild garden. On Christmas Eve while pottering around in the garden, I was startled by loud, insistent cheeping. Looking for the source, I found myself face to face with a tūī fledgling.

Tūī fledgling

The fledgling hopped around from plant to plant, making an occasional fluttering attempt, but as its wings weren't really developed it fluttered lower and lower until it was on the ground. I thought it wouldn't live through the night -  last year we lost two tūī chicks to neighbours' cats - but Cheepy (as she/he soon came to be called) was still there the next day and the next.

What Bird is That? identifying native forest birds

Forest Birds ID card from "In the Bush" - now free to download

Interested in New Zealand's native birds and want to be able to identify them? Ten or so years ago I'd be out in the forest not sure what I was hearing or seeing. Here's some of the steps that I took to improving my knowledge of New Zealand birds.

Set yourself a bird-watching challenge: for example, take part in the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey on this week from 24 June to 2 July.  Gardens are a good place to start because often birds are easier to see in a garden and you can learn bird-watching techniques (see tips below) that will help you when you are out in the forest, beach or wetland. The Top 10 birds in gardens in 2016 were:

Garden Bird Survey and Volunteer Week - Citizen Science at its best

Days, Weeks or Months that highlight different causes or ideas pander to our short attention spans, but if we only volunteer in volunteer week, not much would get done around the country! I'd like to think Volunteer Week gets people started, selecting a cause to volunteer with. There are so many deserving causes, there really is something for everyone, whether it is helping make breakfasts in schools , delivery library books to the housebound, patrolling a dangerous beach as a lifeguard or building rat traps.

Rat traps for gardens and parks in Paekakariki 

Geckos and Skinks - what's the difference?

Rare native birds get a good deal of press in New Zealand, but some of our other endangered natives get less attention, particularly the ones that are good at hiding! Often the most you'll see of a skink is a flash of brown as it streaks across a stony path into the grass. And for geckos which are nocturnal the most you might see is a discarded frail white skin.

A flash of brown and it's gone - skinks move fast

Who's In the Garden? my Garden Bird Survey

For a number of years now I've been counting birds as part of the annual Garden Bird Survey. To start with it seemed a bit artificial only counting the birds seen in one hour. But knowing that many birds are visiting, moving from one garden to another, it's a fair approach. What began as a simple survey led me to was to spend more time looking at who was in my garden and when.

Fantails weren't here at survey time this year

Stick Insect Surprise

Stick insects are so beautifully camouflaged in the garden or the bush, so when one appears off its normal tree, it causes a bit of a surprise.

This one hitched a ride on someone's arm!

A Wasp's Nest!

My friends found these wasp nests when they replaced their roof. Years ago the wasps built these nests, and although the wasps died long ago, the nests have endured.

Be a Citizen Scientist - join the garden bird project

Hooray it's the start of the Garden Bird Survey today. Between now and 6 July, spend an hour in your garden counting birds, you might be surprised by what you see. By doing the survey, I discovered that in the winter grey warblers and fantails visit our garden in winter but not in summer. 

Storylines Notable Books List 2014

Looking for a good New Zealand book for children or young adults? Look no further than the Storylines Notable Books Lists. The Storylines lists are longer than the finalists lists for the various children's book awards and so cater for all reading levels and a wider range of interests. This makes them a great starting point for parents, grandparents, educators and librarians.

You can access the 2014 list here, as well as see lists from previous years.

And yes - In the Garden has been selected as a Notable Non-Fiction title. Thank you Storylines judges.

Great White Scare - Butterflies in the Garden

Usually when we hear Great White, we think of the Great White Shark which has a fearsome reputation. Recently a new Great White has appeared on land, and while it might look like a cute butterfly it has a fearsome reputation too!

Gardeners think of the Cabbage Butterfly (or Small White) as a pest, it seems that the Great White is even more destructive and is a danger to native plants as well as to crops.

It is their caterpillar that is destructive, eating up large amounts of leaves and making it hard for plants to grow. Each type of butterfly favours a different plant, and both the white butterflies like plants in the brassica family. This includes cabbages, broccoli and nasturtiums.

Cicadas in the Garden

It is the beginning of March, officially autumn, and the cicadas are calling frantically. In the garden and in the bush, the noise is almost deafening.

I have written about cicadas in In the Garden, here is Ned's drawing of a cicada from page 22.

Blackbird or Tui - which bird is it?

Last week I was invited to read In the Garden to the lovely, lively children at Sand Dunes early childhood centre. I listened very carefully to their comments and was pleased to see the slugs and spiders in our garden have as many fans as do the pretty and more obvious butterflies. What most interested me was that the children were confused between the tui and the blackbird, at least in the first reading of the book.

The cover shows a tui and it appears on other pages too.

Birds Nesting in the Garden

There are all sorts of signs that birds are nesting in our garden. A month or so ago, I saw sparrows flying around with bits of grass in their beaks looking for a good nest site. I don't know where they've nested. The blackbirds must have found somewhere to nest too, as I've already seen a youngster hopping around behind its parents begging for food. This is quite a sight, as the young blackbird is as big as its parents, but can't yet feed itself.

It's much harder to spot the nests. But if you look carefully, sometimes you can find them. Often a sign you're close to a nest is the alarmed noise from the parents, who might also fly away out of the tree. They do this because they think you are a possible predator and want to distract you from looking in the tree.

A tui nest in the garden

Geckos in the Garden

Geckos hunt at night, so a rare sighting of a gecko in the garden recently was exciting. We often see signs of geckos - their old skins that they have climbed out of, or a quick dart of a small dark figure if its hiding place is uncovered. But this gecko stayed quite still for a long time, long enough to be photographed.

Gecko from underneath

Garden Wildlife in New Book

Out now in all good bookshops and available online from Craig Potton Publishing, my new book In the Garden: explore & discover the New Zealand backyard.