Spring

Nectar

Spring has arrived early in Wellington; I saw the first magnolia blooms over a month ago, and daffodils are out on my lawn weeks ahead of last year; along with the early flowering has come the flight of young birds. When I saw these guys in my garden I initially called Maire out to look at them, since they were so tiny; smaller than sparrows, sleek, lean. At a distance I'd not noticed their eye markings and assumed they must be something unusual, perhaps from the Karori Sanctuary.

While I was a little disappointed to discover they were tiny, young, and decidedly common waxeyes they were most obliging subjects, both for my camera and for Ada to enjoy.

The idea of visitors from the Sanctuary, incidentally, doesn't seem so unreasonable; the Sanctuary seems to have been a huge success not only in terms of its own breeding programs but in terms of seeding surrounding areas with bird life. I had never seen a Kaka in Wellington until around two years ago when I saw a solitary bird in the Botanic Gardens while taking Ada for a walk; last month we were heading up to the Cable Car through the same area and saw three tumbling through the trees. All of them were skinny, young birds, and it was a delight to have them buzzing us.

Flight