Bird Culture

We've had a couple responses about the amazing night sky. To tease you some more, here's another pic Jon took two nights ago near Mt. Aspiring.

We actually spent the night with an astronomer who pointed out that the Milky Way was much more visible in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern. As a result, the Kiwi's actually named a formation out of the galaxy (and not just stars). Take a look at these pictures and see if you can see the head and neck of a Moa, an extinct bird, previously native to New Zealand, in the Milky Way. Just behind (to the left of) the head of the bird is the Southern Cross.



In other, somewhat bird-related news, we've noticed that Possum are roundly hated by Kiwis (both the people and the bird). It turns out Possum are an invasive species in New Zealand and are therefore much despised, along with several other animal and plant species. The possum also eat Kiwi bird eggs, so they don't like them either. The Department of Conservation even goes so far as to promote clothing made of Possum Merino, because it supports an industry that helps to control possum populations! They also sell shirts that say "Possum: New Zealand's Little Speed Bumps"