While on the subject of local birds, these two birds are ones we see often. The pictures are a little stylized - sorry about that. The real colours for the birds are much more vivid. I will take some pictures of my own when I can.The top picture is a Pukeko or NZ swamp hen. They stand out in the countryside with their indigo blue plumage and white tail which flashes when they are alarmed.
They are curious comical birds living in wetlands, often seen foraging at the side of roads, where they are sometimes hit and killed by cars as they seem to have no fear. When one is dead on the road the friends will often gather around and stare at the unfortunate victim regardless of cars travelling past!
The second pic is a Tui. They have a dark shiny blue black appearance usually darker than is shown here. The male has a distinctive tuft of white feathers at the throat.
We have lots of them at certain times in our trees here, usually feeding on Kowhai flowers (the yellow flowers in the picture) or other flowers around. They love to eat the nectar from flax flowers and will get a little drunk on it, flapping around and warbling loudly. They have a wide range of very loud calls.
2 comments:
Isn't it interesting how some birds will "mourn" one another after a death? We have a bird called a "Morning Dove" (a slightly classier version of a pigeon, with a nicer "coo"), and they mate for life, as swans do. When one of the partners dies, I have noticed the widow "mourning" around the site where the little corpse had been. Always breaks my heart just a little...
The bottom bird here looks a little bit like our Grackle. At first glimpse, the feathers look all-black, but when you actually see them move into a pool of light, you can see that they actually reflect a rainbow of colours. Dratted, messy birds, Grackles, but actually quite beautiful!
That is so sad. I wonder what becomes of the mate left behind.
What a lovely name - Grackle - it rolls off the tongue. I have just looked it up on Google - yes it looks a bit the same, except the Tui has the bunch of white feathers at the throat - it was once called the parson bird as it reminded early settlers of a minister.
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