TAUPO-NUI-A-TIA

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 28, 23 July 1952, Page 1

TAUPO-NUI-A-TIA

TALES OE THE TAUPO COUNTRY

(By

R.H.

,W.)

From time immemorial the people of Taupo-nui-a-Tia have known the lake which is the central feature of their country as Taupo-moana, the Sea of Taupo. And this tribute to its size has been endorsed, so to speak, by the fact that several species of salt-water birds have made it their home, despite the fact that it is as far removed from the sea as is possible in the North Island. The two seabirds most commonly seen at ' Taupo are the karoro, the large i black-backed gull, and the taraunga, the dainty little rwhite gull with pearly grey back and wings. Of these the karoro has, in the last thirty years at least, made a r»ermanent home on the Lake, nesting on the precipitous clifTs on the north - west side of Motutaiko Island, and on Motuwhara Rocks near Karangahape Cliffs, and even in midwinter these large gulls may be seen along the shores. Whether the tarapunga, the red-bi.lled gull, now breeds • anywhere in the Taupo country, seems doubtful, but its ailied species, the blacknbilled gull, known by the same Maori name, Jias been reported as breeding in the southern Taupo country. Thirty years ago the tara-punera would usually appear about the Taupo end of the Lake toward February, in flocks of from ten to fiftv and more, and appears to be present at Tokaanu somewhat earlier, and there was always a proportion of young birds in these flocks. They disappeared from the Taupo area about June each year, and once in that rrionth I saw a flock of hundreds circiing round and round one moraing neai the Waikato Out.let and eventually setting off in a body toward the north. The last year in which the red-billed gull nested on the shores of Taupomoana appears to have been 1916, whan numbers still did so near the mouth of the Tauranga-taupo River, and up to about the same year •others nested in the Hut Pool area on the Tongariro River. But the most remarkable fact about the bresence of these little gulls in the Taupo country is that for years they nested on the shores of Te Wai-whakaata-o-Te Rangihiroa, The Mirror of Te Rangihiroa, better known as the Blue Crater Lake on the northern summit of Tongariro Mountain, at an elevation of 5,570 feet above sea-level. For long in olden times the people of the Lake Rotoaira area used to vkit the nesting sites on the shores of the Blue Crater lake, probably the highest breeding place of any seabird in the North Island, and collect eggs. This custom appears to have persisted until about thirty years ago, but whether the tarapunga still breeds there I do not know. Another seabird that once commonly nested high on the slopes of the Tongariro volcanoes was the taiko, the black petre.1, one of the mutton-bird genus, to whose nesting burrows on the mountains the people anciently made excursions to secure the young birds. iMotutaiko Island in Lake Taupo appears to have been named from this bird. Some years ago a Taupo launchman, coming to Taupo from Tokaanu on a rough sou' westerly day, was followed for some miles by one of these birds, its jet-black wings and body making a striking picture as it swept down close to the stern of

the launch, now with one wing-tip skimming the wave-tops, now with the other, as it veered from side to side of the vessel. One of the most striking sea-bird visitations occurred in February 1947, when several hundred whitefronted terns appeared at the Northern cnd of the Lake following a sudden violent southerly gale. With their black-capped heads, white bodies and wings, and back-curved fcwallow like wings, this beautiful little gull is well-known on the coast as the kahawai bird, from its habit of fluttering low over the water in the presence of schooling fish. One o4* these birds, landed on the deck of a launch trolling off Waitahanui, and afcer resting on the boat for about thrce hours, undisturbed by the interested passengers, it recovered from its exhaustion and flew off. Rising to a great height it was seen to head eastward, and was soon lost to sight.