Lizard world
The long winter is over and the people and lizards are coming out to bask in the sun. My last day of work was in June when geckos and skinks here start to slow down and hole up for winter. Now that it's spring the field season has started back up.
When moving here it was a pipe dream for me to find a job in wildlife conservation. New Zealand's wildlife evolved without mammmals so is incredibly unique. Even better-- a job outdoors, exploring the wilds. This job seems to be just that, and I am so lucky to be a part of it. The owners of the company are conservation minded and academic, so it feels more like working for a non-profit than a private company.
Even though New Zealand's only lizards are skinks and geckos (no snakes etc.), it still has the highest diversity of lizards in any temperate region. And despite the fact that lizards are all protected, they are nearly all threatened, or exist in low numbers, or are only found in offshore predator-free islands.
Trent and I drove up to Hamilton (7 hrs north of Wellington) for a week of work.
Some days the view looked like this:
or this
Other days it looked like this:
One site was by a golf course. Lizard monitoring mat, with golf ball.
Since November I've been working on a project a half hour north of Wellington. It's been perfect hours so far where I get to do drop off and pick up at school and still be crawling around in the bush for three hours each day.
We are looking for the Ngahere gecko, a species found only in the Wellington area. They live and bask (soak up the sun) up in the canopy of the trees which is over 8 meters up. To catch these hard to reach lizards we put up foam covers on the trunks of trees, a place where they might like to hang out when it's raining, or windy. We also go out at night to spotlight for them.
These are the treasures we find, the Ngahere Gecko. The first word that came to mind when I saw one was exquisite, such hidden gems. They don't blink but have to moisten their eyes by licking them with orange tongues.
We also find other creatures under the tree covers
Tree weta
Cave weta
Sheet spiders
The site is very steep so we have a series of ropes to our tree covers.
300 covers to check!
Tonight I'm off to spotlight from 9pm to 1 am, looking for geckos by torchlight...
When moving here it was a pipe dream for me to find a job in wildlife conservation. New Zealand's wildlife evolved without mammmals so is incredibly unique. Even better-- a job outdoors, exploring the wilds. This job seems to be just that, and I am so lucky to be a part of it. The owners of the company are conservation minded and academic, so it feels more like working for a non-profit than a private company.
Even though New Zealand's only lizards are skinks and geckos (no snakes etc.), it still has the highest diversity of lizards in any temperate region. And despite the fact that lizards are all protected, they are nearly all threatened, or exist in low numbers, or are only found in offshore predator-free islands.
Trent and I drove up to Hamilton (7 hrs north of Wellington) for a week of work.
Some days the view looked like this:
or this
Other days it looked like this:
One site was by a golf course. Lizard monitoring mat, with golf ball.
Since November I've been working on a project a half hour north of Wellington. It's been perfect hours so far where I get to do drop off and pick up at school and still be crawling around in the bush for three hours each day.
We are looking for the Ngahere gecko, a species found only in the Wellington area. They live and bask (soak up the sun) up in the canopy of the trees which is over 8 meters up. To catch these hard to reach lizards we put up foam covers on the trunks of trees, a place where they might like to hang out when it's raining, or windy. We also go out at night to spotlight for them.
These are the treasures we find, the Ngahere Gecko. The first word that came to mind when I saw one was exquisite, such hidden gems. They don't blink but have to moisten their eyes by licking them with orange tongues.
We also find other creatures under the tree covers
Tree weta
Cave weta
Sheet spiders
The site is very steep so we have a series of ropes to our tree covers.
300 covers to check!
Tonight I'm off to spotlight from 9pm to 1 am, looking for geckos by torchlight...
Amazing Jina! This makes me smile so hard. I love seeing you in the field searching for critters again :)
ReplyDeleteSo much fun to be back in the field! But this time not sleeping in a tent:)
ReplyDelete