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Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
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Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| New Zealand rock wren | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Acanthisittidae |
| Genus: | Xenicus |
| Species: | X. gilviventris
|
| Binomial name | |
| Xenicus gilviventris Pelzeln, 1867
| |
| |
The New Zealand rock wren (Xenicus gilviventris) is a small New Zealand wren (family Acanthisittidae) endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. Its Māori names include pīwauwau ("little complaining bird"), mātuitui, and tuke ("twitch", after its bobbing motion).[2] Outside New Zealand it is sometimes known as the rockwren to distinguish it from the unrelated rock wren of North America.
The rock wren is currently restricted to alpine and subalpine areas of the South Island. It is a poor flier and highly terrestrial, feeding in low scrub, open scree, and rockfalls. The rock wren and rifleman are the only two surviving New Zealand wrens; the rock wren's closest relatives were the extinct stout-legged wrens, followed by the extinct bushwren.[3] Its numbers are declining due to predation by introduced mammals.
The rock wren is a very small, almost tailless bird that prefers to hop and run on its long legs, and uses its rounded wings to fly only short distances. Its body length is typically about 9 centimetres (3.5 in).[4] Males weigh around 16 g, females 20 g.[citation needed] Males are greenish with yellow flanks and a pale underside, females tend to be browner, although the degree of difference between the sexes varies geographically.[5]
This species is currently confined to alpine and subalpine zones (900–2500 m altitude)[6] of the Southern Alps, the Tasman Mountains of Northwest Nelson, and the Victoria Range of Westland, all in the South Island;[5] it is New Zealand's only truly alpine bird.[7] Subfossil remains suggest before Polynesian settlement it was also found in lowland forest. DNA from remains previously thought to be of North Island origin were compared with South Island wrens and found to be more closely related to the southern South Island clade. The misidentified North Island specimen is attributed to a mislabeling by the original collector.[8] Its current alpine distribution is a habitat where few rodents can survive, full of sheltering rocks and dense vegetation.[9]
Their preferred habitat is close to the treeline, amongst rockfalls, scree, fellfield, and low scrub. Rock wrens, unlike many alpine birds, do not migrate to lower elevations in winter;[5] instead, they seem to shelter and forage in rockfalls beneath the snow layer.[2]
The rock wren is a poor flier, rarely flying more than 2 m off the ground or for distances of more than 30 m. It prefers to hop and run with distinctive bobbing and wing flicks.[10] Its call is three high-pitched notes, and pairs sometimes duet.[5]
Pairs maintain a year-round territory, and work together to build a large enclosed nest with an entrance tunnel. The nest is lined with feathers, often from other species of birds. Guthrie-Smith recovered 791 feathers from one nest in the 1930s, most from weka, but including some kiwi, kākāpō, kea, and kererū.[11] Rock wrens are such assiduous collectors of feathers that their nests have been checked for kākāpō feathers, to determine if those endangered parrots are in the area.[2] Around three eggs are laid in late spring and incubated for three weeks. Chicks take about 24 days to fledge and are fed for at least 4 weeks.[2][5]
Rock wrens mostly eat invertebrates on the ground, but will sometimes take berries and seeds, and even nectar from flax flowers.[5]
Writing in the 1930s,[11] Herbert Guthrie-Smith declared,
Xenicus gilviventris, I am glad to think, is one of the species likely to survive changes that from the forester's and field naturalist's point of view have desolated New Zealand. The ravages wrought elsewhere by deer, rabbits, opossums, birds, and other imported vermin are unlikely to affect the welfare of the rock wren. Even weasels and rats — and I know they ascend to great heights — are hardly likely to draw sufficient recompense in prey from such unpeopled solitudes.… With cover and food supplies unmodified, the rock wren may be considered relatively safe.
This was not to be. Since European settlement in the South Island, rock wrens have become more patchy in their distribution; a study of over 2,100 sightings between 1912 and 2005 showed the area they inhabit had declined significantly since the 1980s.[7][12] In the Murchison Mountains, rock wren showed a 44% decline in abundance over 20 years.[7] The main threats to rock wrens are stoats and mice, which eat their eggs and young: A 2012–13 study in the upper Hollyford showed that most rock wren nests were being preyed upon by stoats.[10] Predator trapping improved daily survival rates, egg hatching and fledgling rates of rock wrens.[13] The long-term effect of climate change on their alpine habitat is also a threat, as warmer temperatures will allow rats to move higher into the mountains.[2]
In 2008–2010, a total of 40 rock wrens were translocated to Secretary Island, an 8,140 ha (20,100 acres) rodent-free island in Fiordland, the third-tallest island in New Zealand.[2] In 2010 a survey located 12 unbanded rock wrens, indicating they were successfully breeding.[14]
The rock wren was voted New Zealand Bird of the Year for 2022.[15][16]
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
The New Zealand rock wren (Xenicus gilviventris) is a small New Zealand wren (family Acanthisittidae) endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. Its Māori names include pīwauwau ("little complaining bird"), mātuitui, and tuke ("twitch", after its bobbing motion). Outside New Zealand it is sometimes known as the rockwren to distinguish it from the unrelated rock wren of North America. The rock wren is currently restricted to alpine and subalpine areas of the South Island. It is a poor flier and highly terrestrial, feeding in low scrub, open scree, and rockfalls. The rock wren and rifleman are the only two surviving New Zealand wrens; the rock wren's closest relatives were the extinct stout-legged wrens, followed by the extinct bushwren. Its numbers are declining due to predation by introduced mammals.
The New Zealand wrens are a family (Acanthisittidae) of tiny passerines endemic to New Zealand. They were represented by seven Holocene species in four or five genera, although only two species in two genera survive today. They are understood to form a distinct lineage within the passerines, but authorities differ on their assignment to the oscines or suboscines (the two suborders that between them make up the Passeriformes). More recent studies suggest that they form a third, most ancient, suborder Acanthisitti and have no living close relatives at all. They are called "wrens" because of similarities in appearance and behaviour to the true wrens (Troglodytidae) but are not members of that family. New Zealand wrens are mostly insectivorous foragers of New Zealand's forests, with one species, the New Zealand rock wren, being restricted to alpine areas. Both the remaining species are poor fliers and four of the five extinct species are known or suspected to have been flightless. Along with the long-legged bunting from Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, they are the only passerines known to have lost the ability to fly. Of the species for which the plumage is known, they are drab-coloured birds with brown-green plumage. They form monogamous pair bonds to raise their young, laying their eggs in small nests in trees or amongst rocks. They are diurnal and like all New Zealand passerines, are, for the most part, sedentary. Like many New Zealand birds, New Zealand wrens suffered several extinctions after the arrival of humans in New Zealand. Of the seven Holocene species, only two survive today. The South Island stout-legged wren, North Island stout-legged wren, and long-billed wren became extinct after the arrival of the Māori and the Polynesian rat. They are known to science only from subfossil remains. At the same time, Lyall's wren became extinct on the main islands and survived only as a relict population on Stephens Island in the Cook Strait. Lyall's wren and the bushwren became extinct after the arrival of Europeans in 1895 and 1972 respectively. Of the two remaining species, the rifleman is still common in both the North and South Islands. The New Zealand rock wren is restricted to the alpine areas of the South Island and is considered endangered.
The long-billed wren (Dendroscansor decurvirostris) is an extinct species of New Zealand wren formerly endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. It was the only species in the genus Dendroscansor. It shares the name "long-billed wren" with the Brazilian bird Cantorchilus longirostris. New Zealand's long-billed wren was a small bird with stout legs and tiny wings. Its reduced sternum suggests that it had weak flight muscles and was probably flightless, like the recently extinct Lyall's wren. Its weight is estimated at 30 g, which makes it heavier than any surviving New Zealand wren, but lighter than the also-extinct stout-legged wren. The bill of this species was both long and curved, unlike that of all other acanthisittid wrens. The species is known only from subfossils at four sites in Northwest Nelson and Southland; it seems to have been absent from the North Island and eastern South Island. The holotype was collected in 1986 from Moonsilver Cave, on Barrans Flat, near Takaka. It is the rarest fossil wren from New Zealand and presumably was the least common species when it was still extant. It is thought to have lived in sub-alpine shrub and tussock (like the surviving New Zealand rock wren) and perhaps montane southern beech forest. The long-billed wren went extinct before the arrival of European colonists and explorers in New Zealand. It was among the first wave of native bird species to go extinct after the introduction of Polynesian rats (or kiore). Like many New Zealand species, the long-billed wren presumably had few defences against novel predators such as rats.
Wrens are a family, Troglodytidae, of small brown passerine birds. The family includes 97 species and is divided into 19 genera. All species are restricted to the New World except for the Eurasian wren that is widely distributed in the Old World. In Anglophone regions, the Eurasian wren is commonly known simply as the "wren", as it is the originator of the name. The name wren has been applied to other, unrelated birds, particularly the New Zealand wrens (Acanthisittidae) and the Australian wrens (Maluridae). Most wrens are visually inconspicuous though they have loud and often complex songs. Exceptions include the relatively large members of the genus Campylorhynchus, which can be quite bold in their behaviour. Wrens have short wings that are barred in most species, and they often hold their tails upright. Wrens are primarily insectivorous, eating insects, spiders and other small invertebrates, but many species also eat vegetable matter and some eat small frogs and lizards.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Mae Jemison, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
