I suspect this juvenile Oystercatcher was one of the babies from early January. Its parent was looking a bit fed up, to my eye. 🐦
A little further along a flock of a dozen Kuaka Godwits was feeding at the water's edge.
The movie Orion and the Dark was a delight — so creative, and also fun. It's worth a watch. 🎥
I also really liked the characters: Dark, Unexplained Noises, Quiet, Sweet Dreams, Sleep and Insomnia. And of course Light. So clever!
I visited the Ōtaki Kite Festival today. The small kites were huge compared to a normal backyard kite. But the giant kites made the small (huge) ones look tiny.
This fine bulldog was a brief visitor at our place the other day. Our cat-sized waterbowl had to be refilled twice! 🐶
Today's good news for conservation — Pest control reverses 'downward slide to extinction' for kiwi | RNZ News:
The Fiordland tokoeka population at Shy Lake is growing about two percent a year.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) said chick survival in the area was zero before aerial predator control was used - 1080 bait - mostly aimed at stoats.
I used to use a Keyboard Maestro action to open my Time Machine System Preference but with some OS upgrade it stopped working properly. It would open the General section but not specifically Time Machine.
Yesterday I finally solved this via bvanpeski/SystemPreferences · GitHub:
Hooray!
What the heck! 🐦
Behind you!!! 🐦
Black and white (and orange). Tern next to Southern Pied Oystercatcher. 🐦
It was darned hot at the beach this afternoon, but I was so glad to spot baby Oystercatcher again. 🐦
Big and Little: Kakīānau | Black swan and Pāpango | New Zealand scaup. 🐦
Length: 110 - 140 cm; Weight: 5 - 7 kg (male), 4 - 6 kg (female) vs Length: 40 cm; Weight: 695 g (male); 610 g (female).
Big and Little: big Taranui | Caspian Tern with little Tara | White-fronted Tern (I think …) 🐦
Length: 50 cm; Weight: 700 grams vs Length: 42 cm; Weight: 160 grams.
Yet another in a series that grips me: The Gathering Storm (Detective Shona Oliver Book 4) by Lynne McEwan. 📚
DI Shona Oliver’s past and present collide when James McGowan, her ex-classmate – now a famous actor – comes to the area to make a Robert Burns biopic.
I highlighted many parts of Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner but the last third was draggy and weird (possibly over my head) 📚 :
With cool feminist sophistication and … the paranormal and bizarre, … Warner depicts the classic tale of an ageing spinster's battle to escape her domineering family
Thanks to @bsag for mentioning it.
Something special happened last night. There I was lying with my eyes open hoping sleep would capture me. I could see a couple of stars through my west-facing window and put my glasses on to identify them. Orion was sinking.
Then a small brief snowball
shot down from above. Fireball, I reckon. ☄️
On my bike ride today I drank a can of L&P (Lemon & Paeroa, lemonade), then when I came home I drank far too many cups of tea. That's why it's almost midnight and I'm still awake. 😵💫
That's what happens when you turn 69. Nice long birthday though. 🤣
I biked 10 km beside the river in Palmerston North and I’m having a rest and enjoying the view before I head back to the car.
Today's adventure: bike along the Manawatū River Park Pathway in Palmerston North then have lunch at my favourite, Mr Choi, where the chicken teriyaki is delicious.
Listened to this interview yesterday — so interesting — Record-smashing Tonga volcano sheds new light on how underwater volcanoes blow:
This particular eruption was so powerful, NASA actually detected the cloud rising to 57 kilometres high. … That meant that it had so much power, and so much velocity, it punched through the jet stream of the stratosphere and it pushed ash and basically salt water into the mesosphere.
Birds I noticed at dawn at the beach today: NZ Dotterel, Royal Spoonbill, adult pair and baby Oystercatcher. 🐦
