Another rare book-on-paper purchase this year: the delightful Critters of Aotearoa by Nicola Toki and Lily Duval. 📚
50 Bizarre But Lovable Members of Our Wildlife Community
It's written with humour for people of all ages, including kids. An easy and very enjoyable read.
Late evening yesterday and the light was on the highest peaks of the Tararuas, where I could just discern the faintest dusting of snow.
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. 🐦
One of the Tōrea pango | Variable Oystercatcher pairs has managed to produce two chicks. Made my day to see them! 🐦
It's the time of year when the Spinifex develops spiky seed heads. Soon they will separate from the plant and the wind will blow them to a new place where they can grow a new plant. Spinifex builds up the beach like nothing else.
I always enjoy books by Joy Ellis, so on a day where I felt slightly unwell and stayed in bed all day this was an engaging read: The Bag of Secrets (Detective Matt Ballard Mystery Book 6).
I like that the two private investigators gather a whole diverse team to help solve their cases. 📚
The helicopter moved on to spraying the lupins right beside our house.
Came home from errands to find spraying by helicopter going on just behind us.
Yesterday was the day to maintain our UV drinking water filtration and sterilisation system. It's an annual job. I replace the lamp and the filters, coarse and fine, that take sediment out of the water. They do a good job too.
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.
Here's a couple of adults.
I wanted some fun socks. Thanks to Bamboozld I now have some in bamboo:
Naturally eco-friendly, antibacterial, breathable and luxuriously soft …
Abandoned: Body Count (FBI-K9 Series Book 2) by Jodi Burnett. Although it was obvious in the description I failed to notice it's a heterosexual romance involving a somewhat creepy guy who'll probably end up using emotional abuse to control his love interest. Yuck. 📚
I've been so focused on other birds recently I've ignored the little Weweia | New Zealand dabchick. They're such cuties! 🐦
There's something about this series that I just love. Maybe it's the very ordinary people: Bea and Ant, checkout operator and trolley guy. The Missing Red Carpet Mystery (The Supermarket Mysteries Book 4) by Rachel Ward. 📚
A royal visit, a missing red carpet, a shoplifter later found dead …
I think this little waxeye on the deck railing (and through the window) might have been a juvenile. 🐦
Those baby stilts weren't visible today, but I paced out where they were yesterday and it was 65 to 130 metres from my possie.
Meanwhile today I concentrated on the adults divebombing me while I looked for their kids. Their fury is continuous! 🐦
Baxter K9 Hero by Jodi Burnett was a freebie for joining the author's mailing list. It's a prequel to a series which is probably why it was a simple and straightforward story of searching for a missing girl. Nothing too complicated. 📚
I've bought another from the series.
I enjoy this series, so Someone Murderous at The Midnight Motel (The Accidental Detective Book 5) by Kris Bock was a good read. 📚
when Kate’s hot flashes wake her in the middle of the night, she wanders outside to cool off and stumbles over a dead body. [They] can’t trust anyone at the motel or the local police force they suspect of corruption.
Hmmm, given: Among the early tasks of the new, three-handled broom of government is giving primacy to English names
(What is ‘NZTA’? A user’s guide to the new, English names) they should start referring to themselves as the ealdordōm, a good English name! Not that fancy French 'government' …
Pleased to see this brief video online — Maori MP performs haka before swearing oath to King:
New Zealand politician Rawiri Waititi … and five other parliamentarians chose to first pledge allegiance to their grandchildren, to young people and to the country’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi.
Waititi is the co-leader of Te Pati Maori, which advocates for Maori rights.