Miraz Jordan Profile Photo

Miraz Jordan

I love simplicity and silence. I enjoy taking photos of birds. I also enjoy drinking tea β€” green, white, yellow, oolong. I live at Waikawa Beach in New Zealand, which I love, and strive to be an actively decent human being. Apparently the bizarre is normal now. Now 69, I'm super happy to be getting old β€” it means I'm not dead yet! 100% human (she / her). I joined the MB community on 05 January 2018. Follow me on Micro.Blog at https://micro.blog/miraz.

  • Deb spotted a stoat running past the quail run just before I went to feed Fliss, the Japanese Quail. I think it must have bitten her through the wire. RIP Fliss. 🐦

    That's truly the last of our pets.

    Adult stripey Japanese Quail.
    Fliss, aged 5 years in December 2023.

  • Today a baby Oystercatcher walked past really close to me. What a sweetie! 🐦

    Baby oystercatcher follows close behind an adult on the beach.

  • With its mottled brown back and head this is definitely a baby Pied Stilt. 🐦

    Baby pied stilt wading and feeding in shallow water at the beach.

  • Caught the baby oystercatchers yesterday dashing about. 🐦

    (This should be an animated gif.)

    5 frames of baby oystercatchers dashing about.

    For users of Acorn app: Open image, then File - Add Images … . Arrange layers to suit. Then File - Export - Web and other - Animated Gif.

  • Those baby Oystercatchers are growing! 🐦

    Adult and 2 baby oystercatchers.

  • The Oystercatcher chicks are getting so grown up. Here's one with its parent. 🐦

    Baby oystercatcher and parent on sand at the beach.

  • I quickly abandoned The Complete Maxie Reddick Mysteries Books 1–3 box set by Helen Bridgett. 🐦

    I really didn't like the lead character — she was just 'off' and I felt uncomfortable with her methods.

    The Complete Maxie Reddick Mysteries box set cover.

  • I quite enjoyed reading the 5 books in Charlotte Dean Mysteries eBook Bundle by Phillipa Nefri Clark. 🐦

    You'd barely know the books are set in Australia, but the good characters are amenable, the bad characters rotten. Some things are a little too perfect, but the stories were a good easy read.

    Charlotte Dean Mysteries eBook Bundle covers.

  • Hah! Apple Photos just gave me a new 2023 Year in Review Memory. More than 95% of the photos are birds! Fantastic. 🐦

    This was useful: Export photos, videos, slideshows and memories in Photos on Mac - Apple Support (NZ).

    Some random annoying music is the soundtrack. Mute the video ….

  • Such a gorgeous summer morning with the dawn chorus, a hazy full moon setting in the west, Venus rising in the east behind pink-tinged cloud. 🐦

    Full moon sets behind a thin layer of hazy pink clouds.
    Venus high above shadowy mountains, hazy pink cloud streaks the sky.

  • The Matuku-hΕ«repo | Australasian Bittern is an extremely rare and endangered bird, but one sometimes turns up in these parts.

    Last night a large dark bird startled beside the road and flew off. In those few seconds I didn't see what it was, but believe it could have been that. Older photo below. 🐦

    Large dark bird crossing the road.

  • After 5 days sitting beside a hospital bed (still no op for Deb) I'm missing the beach and the bird babies. This afternoon I came home early. This little Oystercatcher chick was sticking close to mum. 🐦

    Oystercatcher adult with chick close by.

  • It's still dark so this photo is from a week ago. Fliss the Japanese quail turns 5 today. What a survivor. Her sister died a year ago. Fliss is still going strong! Occasionally she even lets me 'pat' her. 🐦

    Tiny stripey chick nestled in straw.
    Baby Fliss.
    Adult stripey Japanese Quail.
    Fliss, still going strong 5 years later.

  • Another Oystercatcher baby! 🐦

    Tiny baby Oystercatcher amongst sand and small driftwood.

  • So pleased (and relieved) to see a Ngutupapa | Royal Spoonbill in the estuary again (at last). I hope more turn up soon. 🐦

    Tall white bird with feather crest erect, wading in the water.

  • Today's success: 3 oystercatcher chicks and both parents. 🐦

    3 oystercatcher chicks and two parents among young beach grasses, driftwood and low dunes.

  • A couple of days ago this Tara | White-fronted Tern was hanging out with a pal at the beach. 🐦

    Gull-like bird on a piece of driftwood with sea behind. The tern has a black cap and bill, white neck and chest, and grey wings.

  • I just can't get enough of the tiny Oystercatcher chicks. 'Caught' one today. 🐦

    Dark speckled chick in sand by beach grasses.

  • Two months after requesting signs, finally they were installed today. Now the birds seem to have stopped nesting and are busy rearing their chicks in a slightly different spot …

    Anyway, maybe some people will see the signs and stay clear. 🐦

    Bilingual sign with photos of stilts and oystercatchers asking people to leave the birds alone.
    Erected sign in driftwood area with flat beach and sea beyond.

  • These Matuku moana | White-faced heron were down at the lake yesterday. 🐦

    Large grey wading bird on grass, with white face.
    Large dark grey bird with long neck and white face, standing on grass beside a lake.

    This post was originally scheduled, appeared in RSS and on the blog, but not on the timeline.

  • Previously I've been using Aperture Priority for my bird photos. Today I tried Shutter Speed priority.

    This morning I could see only 1 Oystercatcher chick β€” perhaps it was from a different pair … The slight blur is a tape between posts in front of the chick. Pretty pleased with this result. 🐦

    A tiny brownish grey chick covered in fluff, standing near driftwood.

  • There is a railing on the deck beside a large area of glass on the east side of our house. It's popular with birds. I feel sometimes like a zoo exhibit.

    Today I think an adult Warou | Welcome swallow was showing me to her baby. 🐦

    Adult swallow watches me carefully.
    Adult swallow watches me carefully.
    Still fluffy baby swallow looks away.
    Still fluffy baby swallow.

  • One of the Tōrea pango | Variable Oystercatcher pairs has managed to produce two chicks. Made my day to see them! 🐦

    Two Oystercatcher chicks near an adult amongst driftwood, sand and young grasses.

  • A month ago I had a blurry photo of two Warou | Welcome swallow eggs in a nest above the zendo door.

    Today's photos are of two Swallow babies in the nest. A bit hard to see but look closely. 🐦

    The location's so tight I just can't get photos from any other angle.

    Mud nest with a small bird head and the underside of a bird beak.
    Mud nest with a small bird head and the underside of a bird beak.

    Here's a couple of adults.

    Two swallows on a roof, as seen from above.

  • I've been so focused on other birds recently I've ignored the little Weweia | New Zealand dabchick. They're such cuties! 🐦

    Smallish bird on the water of a lake. The bird has a dark body, long russet neck and a small head with a beady eye.
    Smallish bird on the water of a lake. The bird has a dark body, long russet neck and a small head with a beady eye.
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