Wild Bird Wednesday 633 - Kererū

The Kererū (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) is also known as the New Zealand Pigeon or the New Zealand Wood Pigeon. A large, conspicuous pigeon that is endemic to NZ. It is up to 50 cm in length and between 550–850 g in weight, with a white breast and iridescent green–blue plumage.  It's a magnificent bird to see.  And thankfully it's also reasonably common in NZ.

This is a species that is expanding its population in NZ after a significant reduction in population. Given it's 'family meal' size I'm more than a little surprised that it survived the vagaries of first people arrival and later European colonisation - but thankfully it did!  

The pairs of birds are monogamous, and where you find one bird you will often find another.

These pictures were taken at various location around North and South Island. 

As ever, to join in with WBW click on the link below.  Cheers  SM

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Morning Walk in Bali

Bali is a very popular tourist destination for Australians, and one I had never visited.  I had travelled a little in other parts of Indonesia, but out family trip to Bali last year was a first for me.

We stayed in a small(ish) town called Ubud, which is about an hour from the main tourist strip.  I rather enjoyed the place even if it was clear that it was heavily influenced by tourist (like us!)

One morning we took a walk out into the farm lands that surround the town.  These are some of the pictures I took.

The ducks were part of a flock of about 100 birds that were being moved from around the paddy fields to eat bugs and such like from the water.  Bird food, pest control and fertiliser in one go!

Cheers.  SM

Wild Bird Wednesday 632 - Red-Winged Blackbird

The Red-Winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) is an abundant bird across much of North and Central America. Across its whole range its total population may be as many 250 million in peak years. I saw this bird in Ontario, Canada, at the end of 2023.

As you can see from the pictures, this bird is feeding on seeds and 'bird food' placed on the fence next to a boardwalk.  The boardwalk passes through an area of wetlands which is a classic habitat for this species.

The male Red-Winged Blackbird is about 23 cm in length, while the female are smaller, at 17 or 18 cm in length. 

A small, but not unimportant part of my enjoyment at seeing these birds is that they feature in the opening paragraphs of one of my favourite books.

'There’s a red-winged blackbird.

I whack Chris’s knee and point to it.

"What!" he hollers.

"Blackbird!"

He says something I don’t hear."What?" I holler back.

He grabs the back of my helmet and hollers up, "I’ve seen lots of those, Dad!"

"Oh!" I holler back. Then I nod. At age eleven you don’t get very impressed with red-winged blackbirds.'

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert M. Pirsig, 1974. 

As ever, to join in with WBW, just click on the link below.  SM

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Mammals on Monday 12 - Muskrat

The Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native found over much of North America.

I saw this individual at the St. Jacobs Millrace trail in Ontario, Canada.  It was a cloudy day, and I only managed one burst of pictures before the Muskrat dived and disappeared.

I'm sure this will be a familiar animal to many of you (most of my blog views come from Canada and the USA) - but I was pretty excited to see one - even though it was not a beaver!

Adult muskrats weigh 0.6–2 kg, with a body length (excluding the tail) of 20–35 cm. They are covered with short, thick fur of medium to dark brown color. Their long tails, covered with scales rather than hair.

According to the sources on the internet 'The muskrat's name probably comes from a word of Algonquian origin, muscascus (literally "it is red", so called for its colourings), or from the Abenaki native word mòskwas. Because of the association with the "musky" odor, which the muskrat uses to mark its territory, and its flattened tail, the name became altered to musk-beaver; later it became "muskrat" due to its resemblance to rats'.

Equally interesting is the fact that it is illegal to import Muskrats into New Zealand! 

Cheers.  SM