Take care for the Pied Stilt chicks
These baby birds are so hard to see they're at huge risk of being trampled, run over or grabbed by a dog.
Back in early November 2022 I almost stepped on a Poaka Pied Stilt nest not far from the blue pole that marks where the North Track off Reay Mackay Grove exits onto the beach. Luckily I saw it just in time.
The nest with 5 speckled eggs was just a scrape in the ground with a few bits of driftwood nearby.
The parent Stilts were fierce defenders of the nest, divebombing anyone who came anywhere near. They’re pretty scary, flying straight for you and only swerving at the very last moment!
Then at the start of December the nest was abandoned, one egg remaining. There was no sign of the parent birds nearby. We feared the worst.
That's when Corne Ferreira came along while volunteers were planting spinifex across the front of the Miratana block. He spent a while taking photos and when we chatted with him discovered he'd been watching 3 baby Pied Stilts in the wet sand near the bend of the river. He generously agreed to share his photos with us.
So precious! So hard to see!
These babies won’t be able to fly until the end of December:
Both adults incubate the 3-4 eggs, which hatch after c.25 days. The chicks leave the nest when dry, and can fly when 28-32 days old. The young are olive-brown to brown and downy with dark blotches on their backs, and white underneath. When hatched they are brooded by their parents but find their own food.
Will they survive the busiest time of the year on Waikawa Beach?
Originally posted on the now defunct Waikawa News, 06 December 2022. Amended slightly.
Thanks to the global Light pollution map I now know the sky where I live is almost as dark as it can get, at Class 2. On a clear night I can see the Clouds of Magellan with my naked eye. ⭐️
Wellington, OTOH, comes in at Class 6: bad.
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. 🐦
For Micro Monday I suggest @Denny who lives a low impact life, cycles, is interested in how we live in the world in harmony with nature. He also has wonderful photos of birds and fungi.
This was my Sasha when she was only a couple of months old. 🐶
One of these things is not like the others… Turns out the printed product manual for our UV water filter and purification system contains an incorrect product code.
Plus, look how much gunk the filters actually remove. That coarse filter is filthy.
A powerful essay — Where women were cloaked in shame:
We Iranian women … have been ashamed of talking about what’s been done to us, and … so scared of speaking up about the atrocities
Kiwis, a reminder that this time of year ramps up family violence. Gift A Safe Night at Women’s Refuge and help a woman and kids escape family violence. $20 very well spent.
Wow, 3 years today since I got my beautiful kirituhi tattoo. Still loving it! Birds, sea and cabbage tree.
Thrilled with this photo from my beach walk today: Kuaka Godwit. 🐦
Our neighbours are sneaky — they had a big party today for their 30th anniversary. None of us knew they were actually getting married! (Not even the caterer.) A great time was had by all.
I really enjoyed this Lingthusiasm podcast episode. Question formats are surprisingly interesting in English and other languages. Who questions the questions?:
In this episode, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch get enthusiastic about questions!
A few months ago we had Bird of the Year, now it’s New Zealand Bug of the Year 2023:
Aotearoa is home to over 20,000 species of insects and spiders
Hmmm, what to vote for…
Hmmm, that quake came in two parts — I just knew it was going to get bigger. About a minute long. All good — just a shake — another day in the life of Aotearoa New Zealand. 〰️
Fri Dec 2 2022 6:07 PM
20 km south-east of Tokoroa
Shaking: Light
Magnitude: 5.4
Depth: 159 km
Huh, I thought (cooking) salt was salt, but it turns out there are different types with different characteristics. Which salt is best for cooking?:
Why are there so many different kinds of salt, and does it really matter which one you use?
Thanks to @gregmoore and @mtt I now have the Recoleta font on my Kindle. 📚
How to Install Custom Fonts on Your Kindle
As I use my Mac and iPhone and websites and apps and whatnot I realise that the more ‘security’ I have to pass through the less I pay attention — yeah, yeah, just give me what I want. I’m a human, not the holder of the secret nuclear launch codes, after all.
I had simply never registered that Z
keyboard command in Photos.app and have spent a lot of time over the months trying to use the slider control to zoom to 100%. If only they’d added the bit of text I’d been wanting to see under a menu: 100%
. User error but Apple didn’t help.
Morning dog. Sasha, only a few days away from her 16th birthday. 🐶
A couple of weeks ago I paid Amazon ~$20 on top of purchase price to ship me a pair of new earbuds. They were defective. Turns out I can’t ship them back because international parcels can’t contain more than 2 batteries. The postal worker also mentioned a cost over $100! 🤬
