FSO - Flora, Fauna ande pets

Choosing which of our flora and fauna to concentrate on, has been the hardest part of this week's topic.  I've decided to stick with our native specimens. 

The Pukeko, or New Zealand Swamp Hen, is one of the few New Zealand native birds to have flourished since the arrival of man.  They love swampy areas.  We rarely see them here on the farm but there are dozens of them down along the road a bit.  They are quite beautiful with their bright blue plumage and red beaks, and fluffly white tail feathers which they flash when alarmed.They have an endearing goofiness about them with their long skinny legs and long toes on their feet.

My son has two huge trees around his house where the native wood pigeon (kereru) often visit around sunset in summer.  They thrive in lowland forest and we are lucky enough to live near their habitat.   Its head, throat, upper breast and back are a metallic green flecked with gold and with a purple sheen, its belly white and its eye, beak and feet are crimson. It is truly a gorgeous bird. It is an unusually silent bird so it is hard to detect their presence unless you have heard the soft whooshing of their wings as they come in to perch.

The tui, on the other hand, just love to sing... a lot.  They sing a variety of beautiful melodies.  You usually hear them before you see them.  They live throughout New Zealand, just about anywhere, in forests and towns and on off-shore islands. This is my daughter's friend, Tony, who sits outside her office window and signs to her.

The tuis distinctive white tuft under their throat, contrasts dramatically with the metallic blue-green sheen of their underlying black colour.

Not at all melodious but very noisy is the kaka, one of three ancient parrots of NZ.  To be honest, until a few years ago I knew nothing about them.  One morning, when my twin grand-daughters were in their first year at school, I was waiting with them at the gate for the school bus and we heard a rowdy sqwarking coming from the giant magnolia tree under which we were standing.  We looked up to see a large mostly green bird with a lighter coloured head and large beak chattering down at us.  And was he chattering, loudly and raucously, with his head moving enquiringly from side to side.  A character of a bird.  As soon as the girls got on the bus he flew away, did a few laps around the house, calling loudly before disappearing and I glimpsed a flash of brilliant orangey/red under his wings.  I had no idea what he was, thought he was a kea but I knew they were South Island birds.  Totally intrigued I rang the Department of Conservation who were most interested in our visitor and identified it as a young kaka male.  They breed on the off shore islands and each season a few young (the equivalent of our teenager) males go off exploring.  One had been reported about 10 km south of us the week before and they guessed this was him and asked could I let them know when he moved on.

For a couple of weeks the girls and I had the pleasure of his company.  Every morning he would be waiting for us in that same tree and start his racket as soon as he heard us coming.  They nearly missed the bus a couple of times - we were so engrossed we didn't hear it coming.  There is no doubt he was interacting with the girls.  I've read that they socialise in the early morning and late evening and I guess we were his morning friends.  As soon as the girls got on the bus he would do his few laps of the house ,screeching, then go elsewhere for the day. 

Then he was gone, as quickly as he'd  appeared.  Looking for new adventures, new friends perhaps?

This is the only photo I managed to get of him and the colours were all wrong.  At least not the colours that were visible to my naked eye.  So I got a friend to play with in PhotoShop (which I don't have).

The pohutakawa's flowers are not yet out.  By Christmas we will see them everywhere, particularly along the coast.  They are wonderful shade trees with a bright crimson flower and seem to be able to grow anywhere near the sea, out of cliff faces, on rocks.  Because of their red flowers and Christmas season flowering they are called the NZ Christmas Tree.   Now, why oh why, don't I have a decent photo of the tree.  I know I have in my archives but can't find them.  Time to tidy up the files, methinks!  But here's a flower:

Tree ferns are the opposite and most are found in damp shady spots beneath tree canopies, up the sides of gullies in NZ native bush. 

And now my best friend, my dear old Lewey.  His colour has faded, lots of grey creeping into his coat and his eyelashes are quite white but still, on a good day, in good light ....

and I couldn't have a photo of Lewey without his best mate and constant companion, Sammy, my grand-daughter's little dog.  I love his gentle face.

So, that's it for this week from the north of New Zealand.  To see some wonderful photography, check out the rest of the FSO team here.