Miraz Jordan Profile Photo

Miraz Jordan

I love simplicity and silence. I enjoy taking photos of birds, and strive to be an actively decent human being. In late August 2025 I moved from Waikawa Beach to Ruakākā near Whangārei in Aotearoa. 100% human (she / her). Now 70, 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 .

  • Better photos from last evening were this Kuruwhengi | Australasian shoveler pair with chicks and Canada Goose with chicks. 🐦

    Goose, Shovelers, chicks on a lake.
    Goose, Shovelers, chicks on a lake.

    Unfortunately Canada Geese are a bit of a pest species round here. They certainly make a racket. There are loads of them locally.

  • I've been wanting to grab a photo of a Pahirini | Chaffinch for a while now. Finally one flew in while I was waving my camera around learning about settings. 🐦

    Sparrrow sized bird with red breast and white flashes on the wings, on a flax spear.

  • I set a couple (literally) of settings on the new X-T5 and went out to experiment. Focus was set for bird recognition. I'm thrilled with these shots. 🐦 📷

    Pied stilt in flight.
    Pied stilt in flight.
    NZ Dotterel.
    NZ Dotterel.
    Oystercatcher on nest.
    Oystercatcher on nest.
    Marvellous colours of the sea behind the dunes.
    Marvellous colours of the sea behind the dunes.

  • When I feed my friend's chooks there's an extra scoop for the doves. 😆 🐦

    Chooks eating from a trough, dove in background.
    Dove eating — closeup.

  • Haven't had one of these birds visit our garden before. I assume someone's pet canary found its freedom … 🐦

    Small yellow canary on grass.

  • The chooks were singing themselves to sleep when I went to tuck them in at sunset. 🐦

  • With that look I was glad to be on the other side of the wire today. 🐦

    Two hens face the camera with what seems to be malice in their looks. There is chicken wire between camera and hen.

  • Good morning! 🐦

    A dark red hen looks straight at the camera. A black hen, a shed and greenery are in the background.

  • This broken blue egg I found on the ground may have belonged to a song thrush perhaps? 🐦

    Blue egg on a gloved hand.

  • This blurry photo was the best I could do: two Warou | Welcome swallow eggs in a nest above the door of Deb's zendo. 🐦

    There was simply no space to get the iPhone further away.

    Two speckled eggs in a fluffy nest.

    Here's the mum back on 10 October 2023.

    Small orange and black bird on a nest in an enclosed space.

  • Kawau | Pied Shag flies off. 🐦

    Large shag with wings spread only just above the shallow sea, with waves rolling in.

  • Two Karoro | Black-backed gull. 🐦

    Two large black and white gulls stand side by side on sand.

  • The Poaka | Pied Stilt are so delicate and fragile looking. 🐦

    Black and white wading bird in shallow water.

  • I just love these birds — they're so cute. Weweia | New Zealand dabchick. 🐦

    Small dark waterbird, a grebe, with a beady eye.

  • At the lake today: duck and 6 ducklings! 😍 🐦

    On a lake: duck, side view, with 6 tiny ducklings nearby.

  • 5.30 am. The sleepy eye of dawn starts to open. The birds sing it into being. 🐦

    A sliver of light sky between dark land and dark cloud.

    Listen to the birds

  • I did better with the Tōrea pango | Variable Oystercatcher, one of whom I see has been banded. 🐦

    Pair of black birds on the beach, standing on one leg.
    Black bird with long orange bill, red eye and pink legs.

  • At the beach I spotted a couple of Tūturiwhatu | New Zealand dotterel. Between lifting my fitover sunnies and getting my camera out I lost them in the glare. Thus I have my first photo: Ceci n'est pas une Dotterel. 🐦 🤣

    Large bone on the beach.
    Large bone on the beach.
    Dotterel on the beach — side on.
    NZ Dotterel. Photo from a month or two ago.

  • Today's delight: two tiny ducklings on the lake. I believe these are native Tētē-moroiti | Grey teal 🐦 :

    Two ducks and two ducklings on a lake.

    Length: 42 - 44 cm; Weight: 505 g (male); 470 g (female)

    A small grey-brown teal with pale-edged body feathers, pale cheeks, chin and throat, crimson eyes, and a dark grey bill.

  • We’re Searching for Our Bird of the Century 🐦:

    Aotearoa New Zealand’s favourite election is back, and the stakes are higher than ever before. This year marks a whole century of Forest & Bird speaking up for nature.

    Join us in celebrating our 100th birthday… But vote carefully... this year the winner is not just Bird of the Year, but Bird of the Century!

  • This Tōrea pango | Variable Oystercatcher pair have found their spot in the driftwood, ready for nesting. 🐦

    A pair was in a similar location last year too.

    Two dark birds with oragne bills amongst driftwood and near a clump of grasses on the beach.

  • Manu pango | Eurasian blackbird on flax. 🐦

    Blackbird with beak open and looking away from camera, on flax.

  • So handsome! 🐦

    Male pheasant in splendid colours, in grass near a tree trunk.
    Male pheasant in splendid colours, in grass near a tree trunk.

  • Folks interested in Waikawa Beach and its birds … take a look at this morning's Waikawa News blog post: Wrybills vs Dotterels. 🐦

    Wrybills and two kinds of Dotterels are tiny, cute, and starting to show up for the season.

    Small pale bird with a band of black feathers and a crooked beak.
    Small pale bird with a band of black feathers and a crooked beak.

  • We still have gales, very high tides and swells. This gull was having a hard time flying when I visited the track where vehicles enter the beach. In the video, at about 13 seconds, you can see it was blown backwards. 🐦

    The brown sea / river water is likely from churned up sand.

    Gull with wings spread over fast-moving brown water.
    Gull with wings spread over fast-moving brown water.
    Gull with wings spread over fast-moving brown water.
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