Western Springs Park
Updated: Jul 17, 2021
Western Springs park is a large reservation area with diverse species and natural habitat. Here you will find ducks, geese, pukeko, chicken, chicks, eels, white-headed ducks, birds and other species, and most notable - the pond. It is also a habitat for many trees and flowers such as the willow tree, ferns, bushes and many more. There is also a Japanese garden built in Auckland.
Japanese garden western springs
Once you arrive and enter western springs on zoo side, you are greeted with a Japanese western springs garden and its beautiful architecture. The garden is adjacent to the zoo. The so called Fukuoka friendship garden was constructed in 1990 by people of Japan. The original Fukuoka garden was part of Auckland Zoo and was soon removed from the area due to Auckland Zoo expanding. Thus, a new garden was constructed nearby the place of an old one to imitate what was once an authentic Japanese garden. Fukuoka has a sister city relationship with Auckland. The garden was built with the intention to represent this relationship. More info at Fukuoka friendship garden sets new standard in New Zealand — LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AOTEAROA
Among the rocks there is a Tui bird, which plays a significant cultural role in New Zealanad. It is said that because of its personality, the Tui is associated with life fulfilment, confidence and spiritual harmony. Tui also have a complex system of sounds with ability to imitate human speech. They resemble parrots, and are known to have been trained by Maori to replicate complex speech. (From Tweet, Picture Bird - bird identification app).
Tui can also be recognized for their noisy, unusual call:
And variety of sounds:
See blog post Tui bird facts for more information on the bird.
Not only Tui exhibit the wester springs park area, there are also plenty of pukeko birds. The subspecies found in New Zealand (Porphyrio porphyrio melanotus) is thought to have landed here around a thousand years ago from Australia. These two pukeko are fighting each other, with the right one eventually conceding by dropping their head down:
Birds and Fish (Eels)
Walking path
Picturesque Views
Two pictures of lake - with (left) and without (right) seagulls on grass.
Willow tree (left), relaxation spot (middle), grass field (right).
The Playground dark (left), light (right).
