Stewart Island/Rakiura is the third-largest island in New Zealand, diminutive in comparison to the country’s North Island and South Island . Yet it hosts a population of one of the largest of the kiwi: the Stewart Island tokoeka . This flightless bird, a subspecies of the Southern brown kiwi (Apteryx australis) , numbers in the thousands on the island, dwarfing its human population of approximately 500 .
斯图尔特岛/拉奇乌拉是新西兰第三大岛，与该国的北岛和南岛相比很小。然而，这里却拥有数量最多的几维鸟之一：斯图尔特岛托科伊卡鸟。这种不会飞的鸟是南方棕色几维鸟 (Apteryx australis) 的一个亚种，岛上有数千只，比岛上约 500 人的人口相形见绌。
The avian national icon is just one slice of the natural riches on Stewart Island/Rakiura, a roughly triangular piece of land about 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of the South Island. Rakiura National Park covers about 85 percent of the bright green island. And as the Māori name—Rakiura, meaning “ glowing skies ”—suggests, it’s a prime location for viewing the aurora australis.
这种鸟类国家标志只是斯图尔特岛/拉奇乌拉自然财富的一小部分，斯图尔特岛/拉奇乌拉是一块大致呈三角形的土地，位于南岛以南约 30 公里（19 英里）处。拉奇乌拉国家公园覆盖了这座亮绿色岛屿约 85% 的面积。正如毛利语名字“Rakiura”，意思是“发光的天空”，表明这里是观赏南极光的黄金地点。
On the northern half of the island, podocarp and hardwood forests featuring coniferous trees with ancient lineages blanket the land. Other areas are covered in shrublands and wetlands, as well as coastal dunes such as those lining Mason Bay . A diversity of birdlife, including the kiwi, populates these relatively untouched ecosystems. The tall trees of the podocarp forests produce various fruits attractive to avian inhabitants, such as bellbirds, with their pure-toned calls , and the rare kākāpō , the world’s heaviest and only flightless parrot species.
在岛屿的北半部，罗汉松和阔叶林覆盖着土地，其中有古老血统的针叶树。其他地区覆盖着灌木丛和湿地，以及沿海沙丘，例如梅森湾沿岸的沙丘。包括几维鸟在内的多种鸟类生活在这些相对未受破坏的生态系统中。罗汉松森林中的高大树木结出各种对鸟类居民有吸引力的水果，例如鸣叫声纯正的铃鸟，以及稀有的鸮鹦鹉，这是世界上最重且唯一不会飞的鹦鹉种类。
One notable haven for birds lies on Ulva Island, located within the inlet near Halfmoon Bay (Oban). Rats, which once preyed on bird eggs and chicks there, were deemed eradicated in 1997 , and the island has mostly remained free of non-native predators. Conservationists have since embarked on a project on the much larger Stewart Island/Rakiura to eliminate rats, possums, feral cats, and hedgehogs.
石莼岛是一处著名的鸟类天堂，位于半月湾（奥本）附近的入口处。曾经以鸟蛋和雏鸟为食的老鼠在 1997 年被认为已被消灭，岛上基本上没有外来掠食者。此后，自然资源保护主义者在更大的斯图尔特岛/拉奇乌拉开展了一项项目，以消灭老鼠、负鼠、野猫和刺猬。
When darkness falls, Stewart Island/Rakiura’s human denizens can look skyward for the chance to observe stars, auroras , nearby dwarf galaxies , and other features of the Southern Hemisphere night sky. In 2019, the remote and sparsely inhabited island was designated an International Dark Sky Sanctuary .
当夜幕降临时，斯图尔特岛/拉奇乌拉的人类居民可以仰望天空，寻找观察星星、极光、附近矮星系和南半球夜空其他特征的机会。 2019年，这座偏远且人烟稀少的岛屿被指定为国际暗夜保护区。
Amateur astronomers there and in other places with good night-sky views might search for objects of interest through Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge . In May, when this image was acquired, targets imaged by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope that were also visible from Earth’s southern latitudes included a star cluster called the Jewel Box and a peculiar elliptical galaxy known as Centaurus A , which may have resulted from two galaxies colliding.
那里和其他拥有良好夜空景观的地方的业余天文学家可能会通过哈勃的夜空挑战来寻找感兴趣的天体。今年五月，当这张图像被获取时，美国宇航局哈勃太空望远镜拍摄到的目标在地球南纬地区也可见，其中包括一个被称为“宝石盒”的星团和一个被称为“半人马座 A”的奇特椭圆星系，它可能是由两个星系碰撞造成的。
NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey . Photo and story by Lindsey Doermann.
NASA 地球观测站图像，由 Michala Garrison 拍摄，使用美国地质调查局的陆地卫星数据。照片和故事由 Lindsey Doermann 拍摄。