Backyard Birdies

ImageIn the too cute category are some young Grey Warblers, I was so incredibly lucky to get a glimpse of these 3 little guys all huddled up together, their parents were fluttering around nearby gathering food - only metres from my house. Grey Warblers are NZ's second smallest bird, so these fledglings are especially tiny.

Usually when the weather starts to get warmer the birds rely less on supplementary food, because flowers are blooming and natural nectar is abundant, but I've still got quite a few loyal waxeyes visiting everyday for their dose of nectar. Even Tui's have been coming regularly.

Image As you can see the size of the hanging nectar feeders they can't really support a tui, and since I had a few regular Tui visitors I decided to buy them their own special nectar feeder - which you can find here. I had put chunks of apple around the nectar to try and attract waxeyes and Tui, but instead it attracted Kaka!

Image The Kaka are incredibly cheeky, but they're pretty tame and even let me put a piece of apple on the feeder just centimetres away from them. These 2 Kaka visit every night just when it gets dark, and have even started visiting in the morning, it's so special seeing these rare birds up close. Their visits have been a blessing in more way than one, today I saw the first Tui drinking from it!

My absolute lifelong dream is to have my own bird sanctuary, on days like these it feels like I almost do!