White Christmas

I found myself with a few local 'white' Christmas photos after a wander around town. These were all taken on Boxing Day except for the white ducks and the pigeons - I took those on Christmas Day. Tapanui, West Otago, New Zealand.

Oddities Found

Oddities found, local walk 28 Oct. Tapanui, West Otago. New Zealand. 1. Rooster on tall pole by an entrance 2. Letterbox (next-door property to the rooster) 3.Cool gabion letterbox on another street 4. After taking pics of a beech tree.. the tree stared back at me

Life In Colour

Colours of a local street tree, a beech, on 28 October. A beautiful day, and the colours of the leaves caught my attention.

Sweet Sunday

Sweet Sunday! ~photos from my walk this morning.Tapanui, West Otago, New Zealand. I approached the fence to photograph the cute duck and the cute lamb lambasted me with bleats, speeding down the field to say hello; then the brown hen came scurrying over. It was all very confusing and the hen was nervous of the...

Have you heard?

A poem/story. The verses accompany bird photos taken when we visited Maple Glen Garden on Sunday, 03 October [Southland, New Zealand]. The idea was inspired by Jake Owensby on twitter this morning telling how his wife Joy in a wordplay duel had coined “Poultrygeist.” It caught my imagination and after checking my photos I put...

Fowl Business

Fowl business: if you've ever seen a guinea fowl rushing along, apparently compelled by extreme urgency, they're very funny! Happened several times today at Maple Glen Garden in Southland, New Zealand. And by the way, they can be noisy! ~pics taken when they were more chilled out. Click on any photo to enlarge. Committee meeting...

Interesting Locals

We met these animal locals on a walk yesterday to the edge of town. I took lots of spring flower photos, there were way more flowers in bloom than I expected. Flower photos later. ~Tapanui, West Otago, New Zealand. In the second sheep photo the mum-sheep is actually poking her tongue at me .. rude!...

Glistening Green

I was stunned to see this photo appear in my twitter feed recently, a Glistening-Green Tanager in the rain photographed in Ecuador Cloud Forest. I don't recall seeing photos of this bird before and I was amazed by the vibrant green plumage ~and it looks so beautiful sitting on the mossy branch in the rain!...

Lord and Lady

This Paradise Duck pair were lording it over the Dunedin Botanic Garden main pond when I visited on a dull day on 19 May. These ducks are endemic to New Zealand and are the size of a large duck or small goose. There's no shortage of them, they're the second most common duck in NZ...

Eastern Rosella

Introduced to New Zealand from Australia, these noisy bright intruders are fun to try and spot. Usually I can't see them or only get brief glimpses because they typically fly around high in the canopy. I grew up in the Far North and saw them regularly in that much warmer region. We rarely come across...

Evergreen

The bird aviaries and the Australia plant collection share the same general area at Dunedin Botanic Garden, they're always fun to visit. Among the bird mix are various Australian cockatoos, and macaws; the noise can be pretty raucous! Dunedin, New Zealand. Visited 29 A

It Only Takes One

Got your attention? This is one of my favourite roses at Dunedin Botanic Garden; name is 'Wild Cat'. The flowers of 'Wild Cat' were looking stupendous when I visited on 10 April 2021, our autumn. New Zealand. Rose info: Floribunda, Dickson, UK pre 2009. Click on any of the images below to enlarge. Now I'd...