Once again, we were blessed enough to wake up to a beautiful scenery in NEW ZEALAND! It was significantly colder and ovecast today but it didnt matter because WE LOVE IT HERE! We assembeled around 8:15 am to listen Craig Pauling, a Maori, give a presentation on Ngai Tahu ( NZ south island Maori tribal culture) involvement with biodiversity conservation. He was amazing! He started off by speaking to us in Maori, describing himself and from where he originated. The presentation was awesome. In it he explained the histoy of the Maori culture and their beliefs. The Maori pesonify the Earth and its features and create characters ( people) that they identify and create a relationship with. These relationships ultimately form a bond with the land, as well as an essence of respect. They are currently working very hard to restore the land. Afterwards, he accompanied us to a nearby wetland where he explained the malignant effects of the dairy industry and its contribution to water pollution. Soon following, we ventured to Travis wetland to perform various bird transects ( a walk or drive across an area during which an observer records the numbers of birds found without deviating from a straight path). During our observations we saw black backed gulls, canadian geese, pukeko, spurwinged plover, and song thrushes, just to name a few. My favorite was the pukeko! Stay tuned!!!
Fun fact: Did you know that insects are cold-blooded, which means that they can't control their body temperature. This means that insects are not very good at surviving the cold. In the winter, most insects go into something called diapause, which is insects' version of hibernation.
Rina :)
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