Over the five years we've lived in our home it has not been uncommon to spot a Kereru or two nearby, even visiting trees in our own garden. These visits and sightings are a source of great delight to me.
However this summer they have seemed conspicious in their absence. Not just in our garden, but in the surrounding neighbourhood. Fruiting trees where we've spotted them during our school walk in past years have remained empty.
Also I've had a growing awareness of the lack of fantails in our area in the last few years. I miss seeing them, and it saddens me this may be indicative of further declines of these precious native birds.
Of course it's not all bad in the garden, as even in these cold winter days the tree in our back garden is continuing to flower profusely, keeping it bustling with wellfed and noisy tuis. We see plenty of blackbirds, myna's, sparrows starlings, and a songthrush or two. And I'm expecting an influx of silvereyes soon, as the kiwifruit ripen fully.
Birds have always held an incredible fascination and importance for me, especially our native species. So I'm looking forward to doing my bit this week for the New Zealand Garden Bird survey. Taking part in this annual survey is simple. All you need is a garden, public park or school and 1 hour to spend watching visiting birds in the next week (27 June to 5 July). Record the largest number of each species you see at any one time and enter your results online (from 27th June).
1 comments:
I am still here! Just don't always have time to stop. Well, I'd make the time, but cyber gremlins interfere!
Lovely kereru. And I'm sorry to hear you're losing so many birds.Seems to happen in so many places, doesn't it? Loss of habitat and new predators, usually.
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