Friendly Natives

Out for a walk this evening I was alerted to a rustling sound in the trees along the valley road, so I was quite surprised when a cursory glance caught the eye of a keruru. I'm not sure who was more surprised, given that there was no more than a few metres between us...

We're blessed with a reasonably sizeable keruru population - the cheeky native pigeons have a taste for many of the native flowers and berries; it would seem from my observations that tree lucerne, kowhai, karaka and ngaio are favourites, not to mention my unripe cherries in the orchard....

Each night around an hour before sunset we have a fly-past - their heavy wingbeats betraying them in advance. Some nights we'll have a squadron of eight at a time, with around two dozen making their way to their roosts in the trees behind the house. Ironically these most native of birds seem to like the pine plantation for their dormitory over any other trees. I think it must be the thickness of the shelter and fact that they are out of the way from the keen eyes of local harriers and falcons.

Talking of the latter, I'm still trying to catch the few New Zealand Falcons that have been spotted the top end of the valley on camera. It's exciting to see them here (fleetingly as it is)