Life in a Southern Beech Forest

Forest and Bird, Issue 297, 1 August 2000, Page 24

Life in a Southern Beech Forest

rtist Ronald Cometti painted this portrait of a South Island beech forest in protest against plans to log them. (See artist interview page 12.) Red and silver beeches dominate this scene which is typical of the Maruia forests in the Buller region. Altogether, Ronald Cometti paints 54 species of ani-

mals and plants, many once common but now greatly reduced in number by forest clearance and introduced pests. Among the birds on this page are tui on mistletoe (top left), with silvereye, grey warbler and fantail below. A rifleman and brown creeper explore the crevices of the tree trunk while

on the ground are bush robin, tomtit and yellowhead. Look also on this page for forest ringlet butterfly, Powelliphanta snail, blue Entoloma and violet pouch fungi, peripatus (in foreground by robin) and a forest gecko on tree trunk at right. Among plants from left, see kidney ferns and a fruiting

coprosma, bracket fungi on red beech, horopito or pepper tree, with a glimpse of stinkwood above. The right-hand side of the painting includes a_ yellowcrowned parakeet, in the foreground, with kiwi in the hollow trunk beyond and a blue duck in the stream. In flight, or on trees

above, are (from left) native ~ pigeon, morepork owl, kaka long-tailed cuckoo, bellbird and \y kingfisher. In the stream there _ are five different galaxids (their young are known as whitebait), -~ koura or freshwater crayfish, and ~ a long-finned eel, all once abunas* dant in beech forest streams. =