Whangārei pūkeko’s 29km journey home to the bird recovery centre

And if there was ever any doubt, it was recently resolved by a common “poker,” lovingly raised from a 4- or 5-day-old chick by the staff of Whangārei’s Bird Recovery Centre.

Aptly named Rascal, the pūkeko’s behavior takes center stage started to deteriorate after being bullied and chased by a group of brash youths who visited last school holidays.

The concerned Rascal had developed a mind for revenge and realized he was causing trouble. center manager Robert Webb decided to move him to his assistant’s farm, 18 miles away. However, Rascal returned three days later and when Webb arrived, he paraded his things along the top of the boxes “where people leave the birds for us when we’re not there as if he never left”.

It seemed that Rascal had rejected the more peaceful center of existence he hoped for and would now have to spend much of the day in a large outdoor cage. Webb could no longer risk being loose among the visitors, so didn’t let him out until late in the afternoon.

‘We let him out when no one was around. He’s no problem at all, goes out to feed and stuff – he doesn’t attack any of us.

“He is not malicious towards any of us and is not a problem for the other birds in the centre.

“And he still sleeps inside at night – he has his own bedroom inside.

‘He has a small character.

“He’s not mean to everyone, but I think it was the (visiting) kids that upset him.

“We need to put up a sign that says ‘Parents, make sure your children don’t chase any of the birds in this place’.”

Stunned by Rascal’s surprise return, Webb said it was “actually quite amazing”. Rascal’s journey to the farm took place in a closed box; there was no way he could have peaked along the way.

“I was surprised he could have found his way back that distance – maybe he had an Uber, I don’t know!”

However, Rascal is not the only pukeko who has impressed his host. A 1967 edition of the Notornis, the journal of the New Zealand Ornithological Society, records an account of a Southland man’s vain attempt to move some of the troublesome pūkeko there.

The story goes that at least two pūkeko caused problems for “Mr. Gray by J. Mackintosh Partridge pens at the Southland Acclimatization Society Game Farm”.

Determined to leave the troublemakers, Mackintosh placed identity bands on their legs and transported them to a release site almost 60 miles away. Eight days later one of them was back home.

Mackintosh “checked and checked his tape records” but it was definitely one of the same birds he had tried to drive away.

According to that Notornis article, there were also other known cases of pūkeko homing, albeit over much shorter distances.

In 1966 editions of the magazine, similar home instincts were recorded in other species of rails (the family of birds to which pūkeko belongs). One story was about an immaculate crake pūweto (Porzana tabuensis plumbea), another about a young weka (Gallirallus australis) walking 128 km home.

Scientists have come to several conclusions about the way birds live at home, including the use of the sun, stars, visual cues and landmarks, the use of the earth’s magnetic field, and even by following their noses to smell the way back.

Sarah curtis is a news reporter for the Northern lawyer to focus on a wide range of issues. She has almost twenty years of experience in journalism, much of which she spent on legal reporting. She is passionate about telling stories that make a difference.