Other distress and warning calls given throughout the year. Voice: a series of repeated crowing ka and shrill eow calls of varying frequency given up to 8 times in a row by males, primarily in the breeding season. The rest of the feathers are speckled brown. Females are slightly smaller than males and have a coppery brown head, lighter brown throat and the rest of the neck is dull metallic green. The coverts are held up by the rigid tail feathers in their characteristic display, during which the tail coverts are violently shaken. In mature males, about 140-150 feathers have ‘eyes’ which are deep blue in the centre and have outer layers of metallic lighter blue, gold and metallic green. The over-developed upper tail coverts have a tan, lilac and purple-brown sheen and are up to 1.4 m long. Males are deep blue on the breast, neck, head and fan crest, and metallic green on the back and rump. Both sexes are generally tame in park situations but can be very wary in feral populations.Ī large crested pheasant. Females move in groups between displaying males. Males have a characteristic display, raising their extravagantly long ornamental tail coverts, during the breeding season. The top 10 also included pohutukawa, two species of rata and the tree nettle.A large, well-known pheasant. The other two plants were Bartletts rata (Far North) and kakabeak (East Coast). In the past few decades it had been found only in the Upper Waitaki Valley and Lake Lyndon, in inland Canterbury. It had been planted along the coastal margin in front of the Brighton Surf Club and in amenity plots at the Esplanade in St Clair and along John Wilson Ocean Dr.Īlso on the top 10 were three species on the verge of extinction, including the fish guts plant, which historically was found in Otago and Canterbury and made its home in sparsely vegetated ground, such as dried out river beds. "It's one of the few things that survives the environment, the sea spray and salt." It could be grown in gardens although it preferred deep, sandy soil, he said.ĭunedin City Council parks and reserves team leader Martin Thomson said it had been displaced in many areas by marram grass.Įfforts had been made to reintroduce the plant, which along with its ability to trap sand, was an attractive-looking plant and hardy, he said. "It's a really useful plant, as it holds the sand dunes together." It could still be seen in some areas on Otago Peninsula and the Catlins. Parts of the plant were also said to have medicinal properties.ĭepartment of Conservation botanist Mike Torsen said pikao had disappeared from Dunedin, except for areas planted by the Dunedin City Council or coastal care groups. It was also important because the yellow-green to orange leaves, when dried, were used by Maori for weaving. "Pingao may be our only sustainable hope for coastal protection." Network president Philippa Crisp said pikao was becoming increasingly important because of its role in stabilising sand dunes and creating a beach contour that was not so vulnerable to storm events and sea level rises. Photo by Linda Robertson.Pikao, a plant which has almost disappeared from Otago's coast, has won the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network's 2009 favourite plant poll.Īlso known as pingao, the plant, which was considered to be in gradual decline in 2004, topped more than 100 species in the poll. Elizabeth Tagg (2) sits among the pikao plants at the Esplanade, at St Clair beach.
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