Winds of Change - Brooklyn Wind Turbine, Wellington, NZ

The Brooklyn Wind Turbine, 2009.
All photos on this page copyrighted 2009.

The Brooklyn wind turbine on the hills above Wellington, New Zealand was installed in 1993 to assist in wind power experiments. Located on the top of a hill in the "Windy City", notorious for its strong prevailing north westerly winds, sometimes reaching gale force, the turbine is located in an excellent spot for testing whether wind power can be harnessed effectively.

Subsequently passing into the ownership of Meridian Energy, the turbine stands 31.5 metres tall, weighs almost 23 tonnes, and has a maximum generating capacity of 0.23 megawatts, sufficient to power 60 to 80 Wellington homes.

The Turbine looking uphill from the northerly slope within the Karori Wildlife sanctuary. Only wish there were sound effects so you could hear the swoosh, swoosh of the blades.

Down below on the northerly slope, just a few hundred metres away, life goes on fairly much as usual for the tuatara, North Island robin, a lime green caterpillar, and the tree fern in the Karori Wildlife sanctuary.

Tuatara, 2009

North Island Robin

Caterpillar on the forest floor

koru, unfolding fern frond, symbolizing new life, unfurling on a tree fern, 2009.

Winds of change... does the long-lived tuatara wonder whether "this too shall pass" - or "shall I pass" into extinction? Which will survive the other, the tuatara or the wind turbine? The wind is older than both and surely will survive them both.

Soaking Up The Rays - Tuatara at Karori Wildlife Sanctuary

Soaking Up The Rays - something every self-respecting, life-loving reptile must do. Tuatara at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, Wellington, NZ, January 2009. copyright Kuaka.

More pics here.

The Year of the Tuatara - 2009

A tuatara spotted on the upper stretch of the Turbine track at Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, Wellington. The sanctuary is "a mainland island" - an enclave surrounded by a predator-proof fence that is used to protect endangered native species as efforts are made to regenerate their numbers.

The tuatara pictured (apparently number 505 by the markings on his right side) is one of a number of tuatara introduced into the sanctuary in recent years from offshore islands where the only tuatara remained in the wild. Staff have found tuatara eggs within the sanctuary so there are increasing hopes that they will successfully reproduce in the sanctuary.

This blogger had long ago concluded he'd never see a tuatara in the "wild" so he was as stunned as the tuatara, even though this blogger knew they had been introduced to the sanctuary, when he turned a corner on the track to see the tuatara sunning itself on the track.

Some people seek 15 minutes of fame; this blogger is well-satisfied with 15 minutes of solitude with a tuatara.

May 2009 be the Year of the Tuatara.

Tuatara Re-Establish Mainland Nests in New Zealand

Adult male tuatara, Karori Wildlife Sanctuary

In the terrific news category, tuatara - with a little help from their human friends - have re-established themselves on the New Zealand mainland, nesting for the first time in over 200 years.

Relegated to offshore islands after egg predation by invasive species such by rats, most notably the the kiore or Polynesian rat, the tuatara were re-introduced to the North Island in December 2005 when 70 tuatara were released into the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary on the outskirts of Wellington, the capital city. A further 130 tuatara were released into the sanctuary in 2007.

The Karori Wildlife Sanctuary is an ecological island of 225 hectares or just under a square mile bordered by a pest-exclusion fence to prevent non-native predators of native birds and reptiles decimating the native species.

Now, during routine maintenance work on the fence, Sanctuary workers have discovered the first known tuatara nest on the mainland. The nest contains 4 eggs. These may hatch anytime between now and sometime in March.

The first four tuatara eggs to be found in the wild on mainland New Zealand

The tuatara is endemic to New Zealand and is often referred to as "a living fossil" because all other species close to the tuatara became extinct about 60 million years ago.

The reproduction rate of tuatara is very low, even without threats from predators, because they breed only every 2-4 years and female tuatara only become fertile around 13 years of age. Their average life span is about 60 years, though some have lived to over 100 years of age.

The tuatara has a legendary "third eye" on top of its head, actually a parietal eye that may play a role in detecting light or in processing UV light to make vitamin D. This "eye" is only visible in the young tuatara, becoming covered over at about 3-4 months of age.

CONGRATULATIONS to the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary for this major contribution towards restoring the Tuatara to the New Zealand Mainland!!!!