Miraz Jordan Profile Photo

Miraz Jordan

I love simplicity and silence. On this blog I share bits and pieces from my daily life. In late 2025 I moved to Ruakākā near Whangārei in Aotearoa. 100% human (she / her). Since July 2024 I've been doing resistance training to help me maintain my independence as I age. Now 71, I'm super happy to be getting old — it means I'm not dead yet! I believe all beings have the right to clean water, nutritious food and adequate shelter, and that humans are simply one small part of the amazing life on this planet that supports us all: humans, animals, plants. I joined the MB community on 05 January 2018. Follow me on Micro.Blog at https://micro.blog/miraz .

  • On this morning's rather brief walk I spotted a Royal Spoonbill at the lake, then two more, with a Dotterel, at the beach. 🐦

    Also at the beach were a small flock of White-fronted Terns (only a few of them in this photo — I liked that group of four) and a Pied Stilt with unusual black eye patch.

    White-fronted terns.
    Black and white stilt with black eye patch and beak buried in sand.

  • This morning's dawn beach walk netted me a Matuku moana | White-faced heron. 🐦

    White-faced heron in shallow water.

    And just like on this day, 06 March 2023, a Ngutuparore | Wrybill. Note how the bill curves to the bird's right.

    Small bird on the water's edge at the beach.

  • As I lay awake in the middle of the night I wondered if animals suffer from insomnia. Is there some little bird out there, clinging to her perch, worrying about whether she'll find enough food come daylight? How will she survive the next storm? How are her babies coping? 🐦

    Then I went back to sleep.

  • Every day at this time of year a few Warou | Welcome swallows hang out on the deck railing. I'll miss them when we move. 🐦

    Small fluffy swallow looks straight at the camera.
    Small fluffy swallow cranes its neck to look at me.

  • Yesterday I spotted a Kōtare | Sacred Kingfisher on a flax spear near the house. 🐦

    I haven't seen the kingfisher so much lately and this one looks like it's maybe a juvenile.

    Kingfisher facing left on a vertical branch, with blurred background.

  • At dawn there were a few gulls and Oystercatchers at the sea edge. Up in the dunes the tiny clump of yucca are flowering. 🐦

    4 birds on wet sand at the edge of the sea.
    A yucca plant in flower.

    My theory is that several years ago someone who thinks of the beach as a convenient dumping ground for garden waste included yucca offcuts and they've now taken root.

  • A few days ago I took this photo of a Pohowera | Banded dotterel. 🐦

    There have been too few bird photos on my blog lately.

    Banded dotterel on the beach.

  • Every day Warou | Welcome swallows come and sit on the railing outside our lounge and watch what I think of as Swallow TV, starring Miraz and Deb. It's lovely! 🐦

    Here was one, this morning.

    Swallow on a deck railing.

  • DOC 'cautiously optimistic' for New Zealand's rarest bird, the fairy tern | RNZ News 🐦 :

    With fewer than 40 tara iti left, every nest, egg, and chick was critical to the survival of the species. …

    Tara iti bred at only four locations in New Zealand … [including] the Waipū and Mangawhai sandspits in Northland.

    Waipū and Mangawhai are just a few kilometres away from our new home at Ruakākā.

    Map shows proximity of Mangawhai and Waipū to Ruakākā.

  • The Kuaka | Godwits were resting or feeding near the Terns. 🐦

    A group of godwits on the wet sand.

  • I don't visit the beach quite as much at the moment, but this morning's trip brought Caspian Terns, White-fronted Terns and a Gull hanging out with them. 🐦

    Terns and gull on the part of the beach where dry meets wet.

  • We had an unexpected visitor this morning when maybe a juvenile Pīwakawaka | Fantail flew into the house but didn't manage to fly out again.

    Luckily I caught it in the corner of the kitchen and took it back out into the great outdoors. 🐦

    Tiny bird with very long tail in the palm of my hand.

  • It's possible this is one of this year's baby swallows, sitting on our deck railing, having a chat. 🐦

    Young fluffy swallow.

  • Who knows whether they're coming or going? NZ Dotterels on the move. 🐦

    Dotterels flying.

  • When I checked the swallow nest above the zendo door all the little warm bodies were gone, but this tiny egg was alone in the nest. 🐦

    Tiny white speckled egg on the palm of a hand.

  • Baby swallow photo, with added baby swallow. 😆 🐦

    Baby swallow with very white mouth, on a tin roof.

  • For some reason I don't so often post photos of the Australian coots on the wee lake down the road. Rectifying … 🐦

    Mid-size dark bird with white face shield floating on a lake with rippling water. A drop of water hangs from the tip of its beak.

  • OK, compose the picture of the baby swallow on the zendo roof, carefully and slowly depress the shutt…

    Tin roof with no bird.

    Gone! 🐦

  • Thrilled that there were 3 little Tūturiwhatu | New Zealand dotterel chicks hooning round on the beach this morning. This one was watching me carefully. 🐦

    Dotterel chick staning quite upright, looking at me.

  • Not sure about this, but I think the Spur-winged Plovers that hang around the beach have also reared chicks. The one closest to the camera looks smaller than the other two. 🐦

    Three Spur-winged plovers.

  • You may have to look very closely at these photos to make them out. Above the zendo door is a mud bowl swallow nest. Yesterday when I touched my fingers inside the nest I could feel warm bodies. There was no squeaking though.

    The camera angle is tricky, with no room to manoeuvre. Baby swallows. 🐦

    Swallow chick with white fluff behind and wide white mouth visible behind a small dark beak. One eye can be seen.
    Swallow chick with wide white mouth visible behind a small dark beak. One eye can be seen. At least one other chick can be discerned, maybe even 3.

  • The Oystercatcher chick is of course getting bigger, and darker, every day. 🐦

    Oystercatcher chick and parent amongst driftwood.

  • Can you even see the two almost microscopic Dotterel chicks? 🐦

    One is dead-centre, the other diagonally down and to the right. I've left the landscape in to help show just how tiny they are. You can really only spot them when they move.

    Two tiny pale Dotterel chicks against a beach landscape.

  • The Oystercatcher chick had strayed further from its parents today. 🐦

    Fluffy pale grey Oystercatcher chick on the edge of water at the beach.

  • The corner of the deck railing is the super popular spot for birds this year. This Yellowhammer sang me a nice tune. 🐦

    Yellowhammer on wooder railing.
← Newer Posts Older Posts →