A Falcon Named Kek
Wow! There are 38 species of Falcon in the world! One of them is the New Zealand Falcon, kārearea. Someone reasoned there are about 5000 to 8000 kārearea flying around our beautiful country. If you want to find one look in these locations: ** South from the Waikato Region;** On Stewart Island;** On the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands.
News flash from JAK! New Zealand Falcons like to nest and breed in pine forests. Lots live in the Kaingaroa Forest in the centre of the North Island.
An adult New Zealand Falcon can stand as tall as half a metre. A male weighs 240g to 350g and a female 410g to 720g. They have yellow markings around dark brown eyes, the adult feathers are dark brown on the bird’s back, streaked cream on their breast, and their trousers are a deep russet red.
JAK checked the splints on the falcon’s wing and its broken leg. He checked its eyes and the cuts that traced a spider-web over its face. “There’s no infection. That’s good.”
Holding the bird to his chest he smoothed its head feathers against his cheek before kneeling to tuck it into a hollow at the base of an ancient tree. The falcon closed its eyes and soon looked to be asleep as JAK stroked its throat.
“I’ll keep you safe,” he whispered. “I’ll bring you food. I don’t know what food because you wouldn’t eat fish and you won’t like the dried stuff we humans are most often fed. Today I’ll get you the fresh bits discarded from specimens in the Laboratory, but I mustn’t raise suspicion by doing that too often.”
JAK has the starring role in JAK-73 chasing freedom.
Kek is a New Zealand Falcon and she has a leading role, too.
JAK has helped lots of injured birds, but Kek is extra special. He gives her so much tender loving care she becomes fit again which may be the reason why she rarely flies far from his side and always returns to him. A favourite perch is on top of his head!
A terrible storm blew Kek a long way north of where she would normally fly. The storm was so bad she could not control her wings and crash landed. When JAK found her she had been dumped by the storm on Island 357 which is today called Little Barrier Island.
That is how Kek came to be in JAK-73 chasing freedom and become a central character.
JAK asks readers, Do you know that Kek has cousins in New Zealand?
** Bush Falcons are smaller and darker than Kek. They live in North Island forests; most of which lie south of Hamilton in the Waikato. They also like the north-west part of the South Island and sometimes fly as far south as Greymouth on the West Coast.
** Southern Falcons are between Bush Falcons and Eastern Falcons in size and colour. You can find them in Fiordland, on Stewart Island, and on the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands.
** Eastern Falcons are larger than Kek and have less colourful feathers. They choose to live somewhere open and dry, like the east side of the Southern Alps. You might see one somewhere across the middle of the South Island between the West Coast and the East Coast.
With thanks to https://pixy.org/4659208/
NZ Falcons like their meat fresh
A Falcon will find a perch so that it can look around and locate its prey. And it attacks fast! It eats insects, mammals, lizards, and other birds. Fish are off the menu. Falcons do not like seafood.
JAK also asks, Do you know New Zealand has other birds of prey that eat fresh meat?
** Ruru, also known as Morepork or Tasmanian Owl, are native to New Zealand. If you want a close look, the Wingspan Birds of Prey Centre at Rotorua sometimes has one staying.
** Swamp Harrier, kāhu, are New Zealand’s largest and most common raptor. It is a bird of prey that likes open places and is almost twice as large as a female New Zealand Falcon like Kek.
** Little Owl is the only raptor deliberately brought to New Zealand. It lives in coastal farmlands in the north and east of the South Island, and in places dotted around Fiordland and Westland.
** Australian Harrier Hawks mostly eat fresh meat in summer, but are carrion feeders in winter, and often eat road kills. They got to New Zealand from Australia about 800 years ago.
** Barn Owls have been seen in New Zealand since 1947. No-one knows for sure if they flew to New Zealand from Australia or were stowaways on an aircraft or ship. A Northland pair began breeding in 2008.
Warning! Be safe! Keep away from a Falcon when it is nesting!
New Zealand Falcons, kārearea, scrape a nest in the ground. It may be under a rocky outcrop or in an epiphyte (that is a plant growing on the surface of a tree or other plant).
They usually produce 2 to 4 eggs and will defend their nest fiercely crying ‘kek kek kek’. They may dive bomb you if you get too nosey and too close!
Both parent birds feed their nestlings, although the male Falcon is the busiest. The female spends most of her time guarding the nest until their nestlings become fledglings. That is when they are between 31 and 45 days old and are ready to take flight.
Training a falcon
“I knew where to find one so we went at first light. Because both parents were off foraging I was able to throw a net over the biggest bird ready to fly away from the nest. Getting it back here was the hard bit. I got pecked a lot!”
“Treat him right and you’ll not get pecked much. Right now he’s frightened, but he’ll be boundless in time.
Ewan laughed. “Then I’ll call him Boundless.
”Boundless is the father of Kek’s young. “I heard him making a lot of noise and when I went to check him out he dived at me! I found Kek scooping out a nesting spot under Grey’s hedge and she didn’t want me near her, either. I kept an eye on things from the opposite slope and a few weeks later we had two females, Bright Eyes and Feathers, and a male we named Spotty.”
Keeping safe! Emergency Hotline!
Call 0800 DOC HOT (0800 362 468) immediately if you see anyone catching, harming or killing native wildlife.
JAK asks “Please look after all birds of prey! They live with dangers like these…”
[1] With thanks for photos to https://pixy.org/4659208/, https://pixabay.com/photos/hedgehog-animal-prickly-nocturnal-3703244/, https://pixabay.com/photos/mill-energy-wind-mountain-blades-6923752/ and https://pixabay.com/photos/ferret-weasel-mustelid-whiskers-5805751/ .
* Predators attacking nests on the ground - hedgehogs, pet cats, rats, and ferrets, stoats and weasels;
* Being hit by a moving vehicle or the turbine blades rotating on wind farms;
* Losing their habitat and food sources when bush and scrubland is ploughed or built on;
* Electrocution when there are problems with power lines;
* And some humans do nasty things like shooting, trapping and poisoning wildlife! Believe it!
** Wingspan Birds of Prey Trust cares for sick, injured and orphaned raptors, rehabilitates raptors back into the wild, carries out captive breeding, does research, and raises public awareness. Watch a video on rehabilitating New Zealand Falcons and more on https://www.wingspan.co.nz/.
** Marlborough Falcon Trust cares for and rehabilitates injured New Zealand Falcons and conserves species through captive breeding and release, education, school programmes, and advocacy. https://www.mfct.org.nz/.
** For more information and photos see https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4690-Falco-novaeseelandiae/browse_photos and https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/birds/birds-a-z/nz-falcon-karearea/
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