For the last couple of years, our freshwater team have been out exploring awa across Te Upoko o te Ika (Wellington region) with the help of our awesome freshie community! We aren’t just out here during the day, testing and searching for life in our streams and rivers. With so many of our stream creatures active at night, gumboots and a torch are all we need to ‘spotlight’ and observe freshwater species in their natural habitat. We created Awa After Dark as a series of freshwater spotlighting events hosted throughout the region! Keep an eye out for our events to see where else we are exploring this season!
On Monday 27 April, we held a spotlight at Moturoa Stream in Central Park alongside Te Papa and Wellington City Council. Our Awa After Dark spotlighting session was held as part of this year’s Hoake ki te Taiao - City Nature Challenge, teaming up with the local community to snap photos of as many critters as we could whilst out in the taiao (environment). The City Nature Challenge is an annual global event in which cities compete to log the most nature observations on iNaturalist over four days.
At dusk, we prepared ourselves for our hīkoi (walk), and before we could begin, we heard the birdsong from the kākā and tūī. These manu (bird) were flying above us, circling in the trees and it felt like they were guiding us on our search.
Sean, an entomologist from Te Papa, was leading our search for bugs that night. We were able to get up close with a ngāokeoke (velvet worm) and a green orbweb spider! The tamariki loved getting up close to our ngahere (forest) critters.
On our spotlight through the awa, we saw many kōura (freshwater crayfish) darting around as we watched over them. Kōura are native to Aotearoa and are found in streams, lakes, and wetlands. They are nocturnal omnivores that like to hide in the day and move around at night. Kōura are an important traditional kai (food) for Māori and are a key part of our freshwater ecosystems. This taonga (treasured) species is essential for maintaining a healthy awa. A keen-eyed tamariki spotted a dead kōura and picked it up to share with the group; everyone got a close-up look before we placed it back in the awa.
We didn’t see any fish during this spotlight session. As we all know, Te Whanganui-a-Tara was recently hit with some extreme rain, and the flooding had evidently impacted the awa with a lot of debris and stream channel alterations, so we weren’t able to access as many fish hot spots as usual. Although the fish may have been hiding from us this night, it is a good reminder of our taiao’s resilience through these harsh weather conditions; our taiao continues to provide shelter and support for all life that lives within it.
Back in April 2024, we held this same spotlighting event in Central Park for the City Nature Challenge, and we managed to spot a tuna, banded kōkopu, and a koaro. Ātaahua!
Central Park is teeming with life! From the tiniest bugs to kōura to our climbing koaro. We had such a blast exploring with our spotlighting community! If you want to join us on our next Awa After Dark adventure head to our events page and keep an eye out for a spotlighting session near you!
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