Stop & Notice

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

Walking into the office today, I noticed five or six little colorful birds milling about under a tree. Their colours were striking, really quite remarkable, and I stopped to watch them a few minutes. I did not know what they were, but I was pretty sure they were not a New Zealand native. I made a mental note of what they looked like and when I got to my computer, I Googled "bird red face new zealand". Sure enough, up popped the bird(s) I had seen. And as expected, it was a transplant from Europe: A goldfinch, sometimes called a thistle-finch.

There are a lot of introduced species here, most of which are regarded with disgust because of the damage they do to the native ecosystems. Possums, hedgehogs, stoats, feral cats, rabbits, red deer, wild pigs, carp, goats, rats, weasels, and more. If you think that list is long, let me tell you: the list of vertebrate pests is nothing compared to plants.

Interestingly, in the case of these little finches, they are actually more widespread here in New Zealand than they are in Europe. Due to trapping for the pet trade, and a series of diseases that plagued the species in recent years, their numbers have declined greatly in their native range.

Yet, as I watched these little birds, I could hardly regard them as pests, even though the Mr. Spock part of me knew they were. They compete for resources with native species, and contribute to the spread of invasive, exotic pest plants like thistle by spreading their seed. Perhaps less destructive than a possum, yes, but still a guest that Aotearoa would have rather been without.

All I could think about while I watched was how beautiful they were, and how it was not their fault.