A Wellington sound engineer has turned the current Covid-19 lockdown to his advantage in an unusual way.
A Tieke, or saddleback, living in the Polhill Reserve. Photo: Tim Park
Andrew Dalziel was disappointed after the lockdown last year.
He hadn't taken advantage of the city's relative quiet - especially at night - to record the sounds of native birds at Polhill Reserve in Aro Valley.
This time he did just that, and was delighted with the result.
Listen to the bird song here:
Covid-19: Sound engineer records bird sounds in lockdown
Dalziel said initially he wanted to "go out and record the nothingness of the night without the roar of the big machine. And last year during lockdown, I noticed, especially during the daytime when out walking with the kids or the dog, the city felt really silent, including Aro Valley you know, it's really, really central and as hilly and overlooks the city - and I wanted to explore what it would sound like at night".
He took the recording along the fence line that protected Zealandia.
"I should make it clear those kiwi were very distant and were practising social distancing at all times and didn't come anywhere near the boundary."
He used a "pretty standard" kit, he said.
"A recording device and a bunch of sub-miniature microphones made by a Danish company that keep things pretty natural and clear and represent our kiwi really well."
It was "absolutely beautiful" being out in the bush at night, he said.
"There wasn't another single person anywhere out there at that hour of the night, and you know it was a crystal clear night. We've had about seven or eight nights in this lockdown of northerlies and southerlies so I took my moment and packed up my gear into some buckets and chucked them on the bike and rode around Polhill looking for you know, the best spot to try and engage with some of that nothingness out there, but got a lovely surprise with a bunch of kiwi calling straight away when I got off the bike and the ruru popped up and those kākā that are prevalent around Wellington these days were just popping up all over the place."
A kākā in Polhill Reserve. Photo: Paul Stanley Ward