When I was in New Zealand in December, 2004, I was surprised to see swallows here. My Uncle Robert said that he had first seen them on his farm in the Wairarapa in the 1950's nesting under a bridge.
New Zealand has a mixture of wild birds 'imported' from other parts of the world. Colonists in the 1850's and 1860's wanted to create a New Britain and brought many native British birds to settle. Guthrie-Smith in his book Tutira notes their progress through the late 1800's as they expanded round the coastline from Auckland. We have sparrows, finches, thrushes, blackbirds, yellowhammers among others. All these nest in our trees.
I have been wondering if the swallows are migratory and where do they go in winter? Hawke's Bay on most winter days is as warm as an average British or Irish summer day. Why migrate?
This cool winter I have seen many swallows flying around Poraiti and Napier. There must not be many flies and bugs out there for them to feed on so why are they still here? Are they confused because they are not in Africa? Do most of them go to Australia or further north?
A puzzle...
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