12 March 2016

Whio habitat — Pohangina river headwaters

Once, whio probably lived throughout much of Aotearoa, inhabiting lowland rivers as well as the mountain headwaters to which they're now restricted. The sad fact is that now, with few exceptions, the lowland forests have long gone and as soon as the rivers leave the mountains and begin to make their way through intensively farmed lowlands, they begin to deteriorate. It's rare to find water as clear and clean as this outside the headwaters.



All content © 2016 Pete McGregor

5 comments:

Ruahines said...

Kia ora Pete...Ataahua e hoa. Been so very busy and back and forth haven't had time to be in the Ruahine, except in dreaming. I love this moment more so in he fact a whio isn't in it. Just the possibility. Hard to get ones head around being able to drink that water happily there, yet what happens to it mere kilometres out of the protection of the mountains. Not a great legacy.
Cheers e hoa,
Robb

Lesley said...

I love your flowing water photographs, Pete. You capture the movement perfectly.

pohanginapete said...

Kia ora Robb. As you know, I love possibility, so it's great to know you share that sense when you look at this photo. And, I agree about the legacy, but I still hope not all is lost yet and we might be able to turn it around.

Thank you, Lesley :-)

Zhoen said...

Just so sad, lacking whio. Your water photos aren't usually so sad.

pohanginapete said...

Zhoen, in fact, this was the section of the Pohangina headwaters where I photographed the male whio at dusk and again in the morning a few weeks ago. Consequently, this photo has good connotations for me because I associate it so strongly with whio. I take your point, though, and it's sad to realise places like this are now so restricted. It's also unfair because, by and large, only fit, healthy people get to enjoy these places and encounter truly wild whio.