Birds played a key part in helping Polynesian navigators find New Zealand.
As host and waka navigator Noenoe Barclay-Kerr explains in part two of the Land of Voyagers video series, hundreds of years ago her tūpuna travelled more than 4000km across the Pacific from west Polynesia to Aotearoa.
It wasMaui and his mate who were brave enough to make the journey.
They knew the land of Aotearoa was there because they had observed the behaviour of birds on the islands, Barclay-Kerr says.
"When you hang out on an island long enough…you start to notice stuff," she said.
"Like how the long-tail Pacific cuckoo would travel south every spring. You watch them do this for 100 years. They go, they come back. Then you start to think, there is land down south, I just need to find it.
"So if every spring, you set sail on the same line as the cuckoo, you'll find that land they're flying to."
After Maui found Aotearoa, he returned to Polynesia and told everyone about the land.
The Land of Voyagers video series is part of Matauranga, an online learning platform set up by Sir Ian Taylor and his team.
Sir Ian Taylor, founder of Animation Research Ltd which provides virtual graphics for sports competitions. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The video series tells the story of how people arrived in Aotearoa.
Taylor and his team are on a mission to teach tamariki (children) about the innovation, science and technology early Polynesian navigators used to sail waka across the Pacific, guided by only the natural world around them.
The platform then links the innovation of early Polynesian navigators to the number 8 wire thinking of today's America's Cup sailors.
Taylor is renowned for his work revolutionising the way people watch sport, including the America's Cup, and golf, cricket, motorsport and baseball, with 3D, data-driven graphics over live pictures.
