Somehow when I got my new phone I thought Call Screening would be a good idea. Pah! Yesterday I missed 6 calls from a person I'd said could call me. Today two calls from a tradie.
Now it's OFF. How To Turn Off Call Screening On iPhone (iOS 26).
I hope that fixes it!
So pleased I thought to grab a (shaky) video of an adult white-faced heron feeding two chicks in the nest close to our house. 🐦
No sound — they were too far away for that.
A few times recently I've heard a Ruru | Morepork in the nearby trees. 🐦
Before dawn it carried on hooting for ages, allowing me to get this audio file. I used Fission to amplify the sound so there's quite a bit of background noise. There are also occasional frog croaks if you listen carefully.
Last night I went to sleep to the bangs and whizzes of fireworks in the neighbourhood. Today's first news story is a good one — Photo gallery: Pets relaxing to RNZ Concert's soothing sounds for Guy Fawkes | RNZ News:
Pets around the country are chilling out to RNZ's annual Guy Fawkes Night Concert for Animals.
All the music has been chosen to calm pets inside on Guy Fawkes night in case they're spooked by the loud noises and flashes of light.
The show will include music written for animals such as 'Mina' by Edward Elgar for his beloved Cairns terrier. 'The Swan' from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns and 'Scene by the Brook' from Beethoven's Pastoral. We haven't forgotten farm animals either, with 'Sheep May Safely Graze', by Johann Sebastian Bach.
I rewarded my gym session with a splendid brunch at The Anchorage. It's a beautiful spot — who needs to fly to a Pacific Island with this only a 10 minute drive away (or 20 minutes in my case since I managed to get lost 🤣).
Baby white-faced heron is growing and developing the white face. 🐦
Extreme zoom and crop.
In the last couple of weeks, every time we go out and about, to the shops, for example, we see hikers with backpacks and walking poles making their way around the place as they walk Te Araroa Trail:
one of the worlds’ most diverse long distance trails, spanning the length of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Today we met our friend JM at the far end of the Onerahi Shared Path, at the Beach Road Reserve.
Then we biked to Pohe Island, and onto part of the Hātea Loop Shared Path – Huarahi o te Whai until we reached a cafe next to the Hundertwasser building. After a snack we biked back. About 20 km all up.
Hooray for YouTube I had visions of not being able to go on a planned outing today and of having to call a locksmith when my working door key simply could not be pulled from the lock.
There's a simple answer, — hold the cylinder in place: Key Stuck In Lock? Try This Easy Solution!.
We went to the Bream Bay Combined Arts Group exhibition today where I scored this nice image of Mt Manaia for $35. It's done in felt!
A couple of days ago "our" white-faced heron chick looked like this. 🐦
My friend J suggested we visit the Hundertwasser Art Centre — I'd only ever been to the restaurant before.
It was actually very interesting, but my favourite part was the afforested rooftop (I had no idea about the forest).
When your ordinary is someone else's meaningful
I received this email:
Dear Waikawa News,
I am [redacted] from Natural History Museum, London, who studies animal traces through deep time. I found the photos posted on your website (https://waikawanews.nz/2023/03/09/sand-scarab-larva.html) very useful to my scientific research, therefore I am emailing you to seek permission of reuse of the photos. Please kindly advice. And I will properly credit you if the photo is reused in any kind of publication.
The credentials checked out and I saw no scammer benefit so I gave permission and added further photos.
My little post made someone's actual research slightly easier. How gratifying is that!
You never know when your very 'ordinary' blog post may have meaning for someone else.
My friend J and I visited the subtropical Whangārei Quarry Gardens:
In 1944 Hardie Brothers established a stone quarry … Severe flooding in 1974 curtailed the operation and the … land lay fallow for 20 years, used mainly as a rubbish dump, full of abandoned vehicles, concrete slabs, gorse, pampas grass, and other weeds. … In 1997 [a] group of enthusiasts … began clearing the overgrown site.
Our white-faced heron neighbours have finally hatched one or more chicks! These photos are with a 100-400 zoom on a Fuji X-T5, then heavily cropped. 🐦
Today I took a closer look at the World War 1 memorial in downtown Whangārei.
After some fruitless research about the figure, I asked Claude, who replied in part:
The Whangarei District Memorial was erected to honor those from the district who fell in "the Great War" (WWI, 1914-1918), and the female figure would have been chosen to represent one of these commemorative virtues in the classical tradition that was popular for such monuments throughout the British Empire and Western world during that period.
BTW: the raised finger is the index finger. 😆
Eru Kapa-Kingi: The first declaration of Māori sovereignty and why it still matters:
He Whakaputanga was the first pou in the ground making our presence known to the globe. Te Tiriti was the second pou to its side, which then created a waharoa – a doorway welcoming all cultures and people to these lands on the basis of mutual benefit, and the condition of respecting the mana of tangata whenua.
Baby Magpie is becoming more visible. 🐦
I wasn't happy yesterday to find this small paper wasp nest on the inside of the shed door.
Woke at 0100 to a massive thunder, lightning, rain storm. At least it's warm though.
Yesterday afternoon we were battling a northwest wind whose gusts made our house 'growl' and tried to scatter our outdoor furniture around the neighbourhood. 💨