Where is the Whio Pool?
DOC (Department of Conservation) are promoting this as Whio Awareness Week.
Anglers report that the rare endangered (?) Blue Ducks can now be seen anywhere on the Tongariro River Trail where scenic river views are available between the SH1 road bridge at Turangi to about 7-8 km further up-river to the Blue Pool.
(Angler access road off SH1 leads up to the Blue Pool – the old asphalt sealing reveals this was originally the main road before the bridge over the Poutu River was replaced – photo dated 2010, pot-holes since filled in.)
Which raised the curly question from tourist anglers. Was the Blue Pool named after the duck?
If so, it is sure to be in danger of being renamed like most other tourist place-names and street-names to become the “Whio” Pool!
DOC advise these unique ducks are a taonga (treasured) species that Māori have a strong cultural, spiritual, and historic connection with. On that basis, the name has to change…
For more fishy info, refer back to the Twitchers Report on the TRM blog last December.
Annual update of the Blue Duck report – every summer “birders” and “twitchers” visit Turangi looking for the Blue Ducks. If they come from the UK they are known as twitchers. If they come from USA they are known as birders. If they are from NZ they are known as fishos.
In Turangi the Blue Ducks are not the rare and endangered species that hide in the rest of remote backcountry NZ. The Tongariro River is the easiest location in NZ where tourists can find them. There are so many in the remote locations – like almost every bend on the upper Wanganui River – that they have expanded their breeding territory to move into town. Their aggressive behaviour forces many of the other ducks to find new locations.
They are so well known as they feature on NZ’s $10 notes.
Beware of angry Blue Ducks on Tongariro River…
Beautiful fine warm weather conditions today will please all the gardens in Turangi.
Anglers wading over to the islands down the Tongariro River in Summer need to be aware there are still duck nests hidden in the long grass. Similar to the fishing, they are also having a late season?
The ducks nest on the islands as a safe option to hide from feral cats and tourists (and Juno!).
The islands are located mid-river in many locations – above the Daisy Pool, above Judges Pool, below Major Jones Pool, above Fan Pool, above Hydro-below Kamahi, above Birches Pool-below Silly Pool, etc.
Every island has hidden nests which may include ‘supposedly rare endangered’ (?) Blue Ducks.
They are the savage ones – very territorial. The other ducks species – like Paradise Ducks below – that used to predominate appear to have moved on.
The easiest way to locate them is to take TRM’s trained guard dog beast to flush them out. Juno tries to avoid the Blue Ducks – but not because she is worried about disturbing them. She is more frightened by their angry aggressive attitude as she is concentrating on stalking and spooking and scaring big game… called trout.
She is so brave… We have had reports back from tourists who could not find any Blue Ducks on their first attempt but when they retraced their steps with Juno they discovered the ducks were hiding close to where they walked.
In previous years TRM provided reports on other species – resident fantails, resident quail, etc. In early spring there were two nesting pairs of Quail patrolling the garden but they have moved on. The usual fantails that clean up all the tiny spiders in the units have not appeared. So for 2024 we are left with just the Blue Ducks…
Quail nest in TRM’s garden last season.
View from the living room of TRM’s usual lawn mowers.
