Bits and Pieces - Critters I've met

There's a spider living in my car. He's been there all along. I know he's there because he is relentless in rebuilding his ragged web on my mirrors. I move between letting him live in peace, what harm is he doing anyways, and what if he's a she and has hundreds of spider babies trying to make a living off my little Nissan? For now (s)he lives.

My first encounter with the wildlife in NZ was the Weka's wandering around at the beginning of the Queen Charlotte trail. They look like what I'd imagine a prairie chicken looks like though I've never seen a prairie chicken! Brown birds with chicken feet, somewhat smaller than a domesticated chicken. It wasn't until a couple of days later when some fellow trekers were talking about them, that I came to love them. A young guy was sitting in the shelter eating peanut butter with a spoon, when I commented on it, he told me a Weka had stolen his rolls. He had set them down for just a second and turned back just in time to see the bird dragging the whole bag into the bush! Apparently, they will steal anything and are particularly partial to shiny things. They also cannot fly but can run very fast.






I think I already mentioned the family of wild goats in a camping clearing on the QC trek. The father had long shaggy hair and was adorable. He kept head butting the 2 kids, each in turn, as if to say "we're in the open, let's go!"

The inland trek I took off of the Able Tasman main trail was perhaps the most difficult hike I've ever done, rewarding but difficult. Along the way, a little black and white bird accompanied me - flying from tree to tree looking expectantly at my struggle. I remember feeling so grateful for that little bird and thinking he was encouraging me. I learned later that they do that because they have found that hikers kick up food - bugs and such. I still prefer to think of him as channeling one of my ancestors saying, "go, go, go, you can do it!"
 
This duck.

I was lounging in the back of my car reading when this guy came up, pecked around and then jumped onto the roof of the car. I looked out the rear hatchback at him and he peered back down at me for a long bit so I thought maybe I'd get out and take his picture. When I did, he looked me straight in the eye and took a massive dump on my car! I guess we weren't friends after all...

The southern coast was full of wildlife, penguins (which I only saw from a distance), seals, sea lions. I was walking along a beach where several sea lions were resting when a couple of younger ones started wrestling with each other. I watched them for some time before a big bull stepped in and put a stop to it.