Miraz Jordan

I heard a noise this morning I couldn’t quite make out. I thought maybe it was a hawk but it was too close and repeated too often without moving. Turned out it was this lovely Tikaokao California quail on the mulch pile by the front door. 🐦

Folks, you might like to see Take care for the Pied Stilt chicks about the baby birds currently trying to survive on our beach. Includes fantastic photos by Corne Ferreira, a visitor I was chatting to the other day. Location: Waikawa Beach, Horowhenua, Aotearoa New Zealand. 🐦

The other morning on the beach I spotted a group of Kuaka Godwit doing their thing then realised one bird looked quite different. I believe this is a Ruddy turnstone — I haven’t spotted them around here before. Second photo shows Kuaka for comparison. 🐦

Thrilled with this photo from my beach walk today: Kuaka Godwit. 🐦

I have supervisors. A couple of little Warou, Welcome swallow spend the day sitting on the rail by the lounge. Such cuties! 🐦

And for today’s yoga session we have a simple little neck twist with head tuck. 🐦

While one Kāhu | Hawk was flying around, another was relaxing on a fencepost. 🐦

With the flax spears opening Tūī | Tui are visiting to feed. 🐦

I’m outta here! 🐦

One of the quirks of halving a recipe is ending up needing half an egg. Luckily, as I have Japanese Quail, this is no problem. 4 quail eggs ‘equal’ a hen’s egg, ergo 2 quail eggs do just fine. Lemon Butter Biscuits. 🐦

Those eggs I saw on the beach the other day weren’t from an Oystercatcher, but rather this dedicated gorgeous Pied Stilt.

Such delicate creatures with such long legs! 🐦

I nearly stepped on this clutch of 5 Oystercatcher eggs on the beach. The birds lay them in the sand near a bit of driftwood. I was actually looking for a suspected nest further away and almost didn’t see this. 🐦

Update, 07 November 2022: My friend Stephen discovered a Pied Stilt sitting on these eggs, rather than an Oystercatcher.

A pair of Canada Geese on the lake. 🐦

Thanks to @cheri who drew my attention to this wonderful rap video a couple of weeks ago: Rock Wren for Bird of the Year. And look who won! Bird of the Year: Pīwauwau/ rock wren crowned as 2022 winner. 🐦

Photo: The pīwauwau / rock wren. Photo: CC BY 2.0 Andrew / Flickr.

Very uncomfortable topic for a cozy mystery, but I like this series and its characters who are very real: The Missing Pets Mystery (The Supermarket Mysteries Book 2) by Rachel Ward. 🐦

all is not well in the little town of Kingsleigh. Three cats have gone missing in a week.

Spring! Spotted today at the local pond, a duck with, I believe, 10 ducklings. Look at those little mites! 🐦

I love Welcome Swallows: they’re small, colourful, fast and generally cute. This one came to sit on our deck railing. Photos through a window. 🐦

Pleased with myself that today I checked my camera settings before getting click-happy on the shutter. This morning there were about 15 Kuaka feeding on the beach. 🐦

I was heading to the deck when I pulled up short. A California Quail (a rare and occasional visitor in these parts) was hanging out on our deck railing. It waited quietly while I took a bunch of photos. ❤️ 🐦

One of our local ring-necked doves was hanging round by the house this morning. Very convenient! 🐦

Out of 30 or so photos of Kuaka (Godwits) this is probably the only one where the bird was actually in focus. So annoyed with myself for mucking up this beach photowalk so badly. 🐦

The quail run needed a refresh so yesterday I took out old straw and pine shavings and macrocarpa twigs. Today I went and bought more pine shavings, then loaded up the run with fresh materials. Can you spot the stripey quail in the last photo? 🐦

Equinox egg. First quail egg of the season. Such clever girls! 🐦

This is one of 3 ring-decked doves that hang out on our lane. They let me get so close. 🐦

Finally a duck came to explore the temporary pond on the paddock next door. Didn’t stay long though. 🐦