I woke this morning from bad dreams — a stolen computer, an unfriendly ‘workshop’ place. I felt ‘blah’ and wished I could just spend the whole day in bed reading.
I’m enjoying a book just now by Elizabeth Moon: The Speed of Dark. It’s a story about a young autistic man, set in the future. I’ve enjoyed many of Moon’s other books, and this is no different. It’s well-written, intriguing and thought provoking.
After reading for an hour or so I reluctantly set about my day. But then I had a notion to visit Zealandia for a short walk. I haven’t been up there for ages, and it seemed a quiet walk in the greenery, listening to birds would be good for my soul.
It wasn’t too hard to persuade my partner to come with me and we set off around lunchtime.
It ended up being a 2 hour stroll of great beauty. We heard many birds, and saw a few, as well as a tuatara. We crossed the suspension bridge and climbed the lookout tower, absorbing the quiet, the green and the birdsong. There were few other visitors while we were there.
Kaka Parrots.
At one point, near the top dam, we heard calls and whistles and squawks. I couldn’t see the source, but pulled out my Flip mino camera and simply pointed it at the ground while I recorded the sounds.
It turned out to be Kākā. (Image source: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kaka-Parrots.jpg.)
Soon after that we came to a feeding station for Korimako (Bellbirds). Several birds were flitting around and I was able to record both birds and their song for a few moments.
When I pulled the video clips into my Mac I discovered a short clip I’d made the other day close to home. Barely visible at the top centre of the frame is a Tui. I was concentrating on recording the sound and didn’t think the bird would be visible, so if you can see the bird at all you’ll see it gradually ‘slide’ down the frame and out the bottom.
With the birdsong clearly recorded, I glued the 3 clips together into the following short ‘movie’.
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Hee
I had to listen closely to the kaka to make sure you hadn’t recorded me trying to whistle like a kaka! I was off-track up the hill by the dam (tracking little-spotted kiwi) and was waiting for Linton to get a new bearing. The kaka you recorded were flying in and out of a big pine near me and so I was practicing my kaka whistle, which they quite rightly ignored. Most were this year’s juveniles as far as I could tell.
Thanks Judi. I was thinking of you while were up there actually.
If you can whistle like that kaka you deserve a medal.
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