Tara-iti (New Zealand Fairy Tern) Photo: Glenda Rees
When composer Rod Biss heard the main nesting grounds of one of New Zealand’s most endangered birds was under imminent threat of being developed into dozens of expensive houses and a golf course, he decided to do something about it. He contacted his old friend, the poet Denys Trussell, also an environmentalist and musician, and together they produced the Four New Zealand Bird Songs, singing the praises of the tara-iti (New Zealand Fairy Tern), pukeko and karearea (New Zealand Falcon). Kenneth Young introduces Rod Biss’s Four New Zealand Bird Songs ahead of the full episode of Resound on Sound Lounge.
