Nga Manu Nature Reserve covers about 13 hectares (35 acres) of remnant forest on the Kapiti Coast north of Wellington. Like Mt. Bruce there are only a few aviaries and species here, and the entrance fee is just $10. My girlfriend really liked this place because she could feed the ducks (including one that sat on her hand and then her shoulder while eating). The majority of the aviaries here are clustered near the entrance, with most of the rest of the property just being a bush-walk in which you can see various common native birds such as tui. The entrance building (the Information Centre on the map) has a few small tanks for such critters as white-tailed spider (a venomous Australian species now common in NZ), baby eels, baby tuatara (the first ones to be bred here), and there is also an incubator for "abandoned" ducklings that members of the public bring in. Outside is a pond area with large numbers of mallards and some paradise ducks and pukeko. Many of these appear to be hand-raised. Food can be bought to feed them, although there is a sign outside saying not to feed the ducks outside the building -- which is where most of them are. Most of the aviaries are "walk-in" ones, although I'm not sure why they bothered because the walk-in bit is just a small porch area in which you stand while looking into the aviary through an open-fronted window-type surround. The first aviary has yellow-crowned kakariki; the second North Island kaka and North Island weka (on the map these two aviaries appear as one next to the Information Centre). The third aviary has a glass-fronted dive tank for NZ scaup, which is very effective although it is situated in such a way that the front glass can pick up a lot of reflections from the surroundings. The kea aviary is not too bad (this is the only true walk-through aviary), and then is a waterbird aviary (apparently housing only a white-faced heron, scaup and grey teal). The two aviaries near top centre of the map have eastern rosellas (introduced Australian parrots common in the North Island) and NZ pigeon. The two lower down house ring-necked pheasants, yellow-crowned kakariki and blue duck. Apparently there is a talking tui somewhere but I didn't see any aviaries with tui. There are black and mute swans on Swan Pond (bottom right). The Nocturnal House is much better than most in NZ in as much as it has a number of displays inside rather than just being a kiwi house. Apart for the kiwi enclosure (which has a glass-fronted "burrow" which is fortunate because otherwise the single kiwi inside wouldn't be any more visible than in most other kiwi houses), there are tanks for inanga (native galaxiids) and koura (freshwater crayfish), and enclosures for a weasel, a brush-tailed possum, and moreporks. Outside the Nocturnal House are enclosures for tuatara and various native geckoes. The eel feeding at the Top Pond, on the middle left of the map, appealed to my girlfriend because she loves eels (I feed them all the time at work). The eels are wild in the pond but come into a trough area at the side at feeding time and are given the leftover food from feeding the birds -- bits of chicken and meat, pieces of mice, that sort of thing. The eels weren't overly large by NZ standards but it was quite spectacular watching them writhing up to take their food. The eel feeding here is much better than the Mt. Bruce one because they are fed in a shallow restricted area of water rather than off a bridge (although having said that the Mt. Bruce eels are far larger). Nga Manu is a small place with few aviaries but it is a very nice wee place to visit, especially for children and people who like feeding ducks. Most of the paths are wheelchair and pushchair friendly; the map says that all of them are but the one up to the lookout tower certainly isn't for wheelchairs. Nigel did a piece on Nga Manu also in 2005, which is here: Nga Manu Nature Reserve - Nga Manu Bird sanctuary
yes, they're the long-finned eel (Anguilla dieffenbachii) which is endemic to NZ and grows up to two metres in length. In New Zealand there are also the native short-finned eels (A. australis) which are smaller and which also live in Australia and some other southern Pacific islands; and the spotted eel (A. reinhardtii) which is a recently self-introduced Australian species.
yeah, it was very good. Went something like this: day one: picked up the rental car and went straight to Karori Sanctuary, then to Te Papa and back to Karori in the evening for the night tour. day two: to the zoo and also one of the free one-hour tours of the Beehive and Parliamentary buildings. day three: the boat across to Kapiti was cancelled due to some bad weather that was supposed to be coming through (but didn't!) so we went to Nga Manu and then did some birding in the estuaries and lagoons around Waikanae and Pauatahanui. day four: made it to Kapiti Island today. Very excellent place -- takahe being the highlight of course. day five: to Somes Island, mainly to see the Brothers Island tuatara that have been introduced there. Then up to Mt. Bruce. day six: went home again
