Bird of the week

By Neville Parminter

A Dabchick is potted floating on Lake Taupō. Photo: Neville Parminter.

Conservationist Neville Parminter has kindly offered to profile some of the birds that he finds living in the Taupō area. This week he focuses on Dabchicks, or Poliocephalus rufopectus.

Dabchicks are small aquatic diving birds and are a part of the grebe family.

They dive to a depth of four meters, staying under for 40 seconds feeding on insects, small freshwater fish, crayfish and shellfish.

The dabchick is mainly found in inland freshwater lakes and ponds in the volcanic plateau and Rotorua areas with small populations in the Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa regions.

The effects of habitat loss, degradation of wetlands and the loss of riparian margins have reduced their range.

Thought to number between 1900 – 2000, it is classified as ‘Nationally Increasing’ by the Department of Conservation.

In Lake Taupō they have been seen in the Boat Harbour and around to Wharewaka Point as well as on the Tauranga Taupo River below the bridge.

They breed year-round creating a nest that is anchored to aquatic vegetation and made up of a loose pile of aquatic vegetation.

Two to three eggs are laid usually between August and March with the juveniles having white, pale brown and black stripes on their head and neck.

Both parents assist with feeding the chicks with them riding on their parents backs until they become too big to carry.