Tiritiri Through Their Eyes: Volunteer Voices - Caroline
Tiritiri Through Their Eyes: Volunteer Voices - Caroline
Questions answered by Caroline, volunteer guide and weeder
- What’s your favourite conservation success story from Tiritiri Matangi?
The old takahē, Greg. He was the last takahē to be fed by humans using a puppet. He thought that we were there to feed him. At lunch he was a menace because he used to steal the school children’s food. I used to go and get my weeding tool and show it to him and he would follow me along like a dog. I used to have to lift him out the way as he would get in the way of me digging and he would grunt at me. - Which species do you think visitors most often overlook, but are actually really important to the ecosystem here?
The public are usually interested in everything. Except some of the teenage children because it is uncool.
- Can you tell me about a moment that really moved you while guiding here?
I now have two grandchildren, one is already a guide and the other one wants to be one. - How do the birds on Tiritiri Matangi behave differently from those on the mainland?
The birds stay in sight and don’t fly off. - What inspired you to become a guide/volunteer on Tiritiri, and what do you love most about it?
I have always been interested in birds from a very young age. My mother was interested in birds, too. Once a cuckoo laid its egg in a nest in our garden, and I remember trying to feed it a large worm, and my mother came running down the garden letting me know that the mother birds cut up the worm with their beak. So we put it back in the nest. Also, when I was at school, I used to monitor the birds in the school grounds until I found out that there was a girl following behind me, collecting the eggs.I love that I feel I am being useful in my retirement. - What do you think the biggest challenge for Tiritiri’s future is?
The changing climate - What would you say to someone thinking about becoming a volunteer here?
Do and enjoy it.
