Whio report

People know that whio is a bird but not much people know that it Is endemic. whio are not birds that you will find in town and in your stream they are rare birds. Find out more facts further on in this report


Have you ever seen that bird on the ten dollar note? Or have you ever heard about it? Well now you will. That bird is a whio or a blue duck. It is endemic to New Zealand, that means that it is native but only can be found in New Zealand. A whio has webbed feet to help it sail down flowing water and also to help them perch on rocks. The whio likes to live in clean and clear flowing rough water. The name blue duck comes from its blue/grey feathers that help it to camouflage against the rocks. They are called whio because that is the sound the male makes. The whio has rubbery scrapers on their bill they are like rubbery lips to help them to scrape larvae and bugs off rocks.

A female whio does not quack, they make a low sounding growl. whio like to stay in the same part of the river for their whole life. The whio will mate and stay together for its whole life, if one of the pair dies the other will find another whio and will stay in the same part of the river. The male and female just about look the same but the male is slightly larger. The blue duck is smaller than the common mallard ducks that you have probably seen. Blue duck is an old species of duck. It has evolved in New Zealand by itself.

Blue duck feeds for the first few hours of the morning and again at night. The female lays her eggs at the beginning of September. She will lay her eggs in a hole in the river bank, caves and under plants. She will lay five to six eggs and will sit on them for a long time. The male protects the egg? He will wait on the river near the nest. The ducklings are born in October, they are white and grey and really fluffy. They have really big feet and they can swim straight away.

If the ducklings are alarmed they will flattern their self down onto the rocks. It helps them camouflage so the predator can't see them. The young chicks can't fly for up to eighty days. Once they leave the protection of their parents they will soon start flying. They will move up and down the river to find a home. The female blue duck is more at risk than the male because at nesting time wild cats, ferrits and stoats can attack them. The blue duck is an endangerd specie. Their numbers are very low compared to what they once were. They have disapeard from most places and there is about 2000 left in New Zealand. Scientists are trying their best to find a way to increase their numbers.

Thank you for reading this report. We need to respect the blue duck/ whio. It is a beautiful bird. I hope you enjoyed.

The two wildebeests

   

                                           
                                   

                                        Here is the second part of my story
                                         

                                   



                                                   Here is my story

      “Come on man, lets cross the river,” said the wildebeest.

“Nah, there’s a crocodile,” said the other wildebeest.

“No, it’s a log,” said the wildebeest.

“See it’s a crocodile, I bet you it will move when I punch it,” said the other wildebeest.

“Nope, it’s a log,” said the wildebeest.

“Listen to me man, it’s a crocodile!” said the other wildebeest.

“No, it’s a floating log,” said the first wildebeest.

“Look, I will poke it with this stick and then it will come and eat you.” said the other wildebeest.

“Haa, haa, I was right, It’s a log,” said the wildebeest.

“Look, I will jump on it and I bet that it is a crocodile,” The other wildebeest jumps.

“Maybe you were right it was a log,” said the other wildebeest.

CHOMP!!!

“You were right, it was a crocodile.” said the alive wildebeest.

“Hey dad,” said the wildebeest.

“Hi son, is that a log?”

To be continued...

Picture book creation

For the last four days the whole of year 5 and 6 have split into different class rooms to do different activities, I chose to create a picture book. We spent the first day drawing our characters, then the second day testing the different backgrounds, pencils and then the paints, on the third day we made our layout and on the forth day we wrote our text.
Thank you Mrs Roil for all of your help.
Here is my page.