Week 9 Omaha River Retreat.

We had a quiet weekend at home ending with a good roast dinner at Rob and Julie's on Sunday evening. Monday and Tuesday were spent at home as well. The weather was still warm and mostly sunny and I walked down to the wharf, most days, to sit and look at the water and to read.
The bird life here is pretty amazing, lots of birds that are strange to those of us who live in the northern hemisphere. The Tui is perhaps one of the most famous NZ birds with it's beautiful, lyrical song which never fails to amaze me.
The shrub covered bank in front of our kitchen window is home to fantails, starlings, blackbirds and of course the ever present, cheeky sparrows. Some of these birds roost on the roof above our bedroom and make quite a noise when they wake in the early morning, a noise though that I have come to like as I hear them shuffling around and quarrelling among themselves.
When we first arrived Jill was very proud to point out to us a couple of New Zealand Harriers and their two young who could often be seen circling around the paddocks. They have moved on now but it was a prvilige to be able to watch them.
 Often when I walk down to the wharf I see one or more cormorants sitting on the jetty, wings outspread drying in the sun.
We also see brightly coloured Rosella's, immigrants from Australia who  have taken up residence here.after being introduced onto Kawau Island, just 8kms off shore, by Governor Grey back in the 1860's.
Another immigrant and not a popular one is the Indian Mynah bird which has taken up residence in the northern half of North Island, they are often seen on the roadside searching for insects.
Being close to the estuary we  see the white faced heron and they often come and perch on the rail of our upstairs deck before taking off again, so gracefully to fly over to one of the many trees in the paddock.

 Perhaps my favourite bird is the Pukeko or New Zealand Swamp Hen which to me looks like an overgrown moor hen. It has dark blue plumage, a red beak and a white rump. They are often seen at the roadside foraging for food. We often see them, from our windows, foraging in the paddock behind the house. It is one of the few New Zealand native birds to have flourished since the arrival of man, and can be found in almost any grassland area, especially in swampy locations.
Unlike the Pukeko the iconic Kiwi has not fared well since  the country became inhabited and it's population decimated by rats and domestic dogs . It still lives in parts of Northland and in many other places reserves have been made to encourage it to breed.
I often hear New Zealands only owl the morepork if I go outside after dark. The reason for it's name becomes obvious when one hears it's call, definitely a morepork as opposed to a too whit too whoo!

Rob had the day off on Wednesday and as the weather was forecast to be good we went out fishing with him. Sadly the weather forecast was wrong and the wind did not abate in the afternoon but we did manage to find a relatively sheltered place in the bay and spent about 4 hours out there. It was quite choppy and there were not too many fish about but we did manage to catch enough snapper (and one gurnard) so had enough fish for our evening meal. We usually throw back more snapper than we catch as it is illegal to catch them under a certain size. One lucky cormorant spotted our boat and circled around us waiting for us to throw back one of the smaller snapper. A lucky bird but an unlucky end for 2 of the small snapper!
On Thursday Nigel and I went over to Rachels and whilst Nigel sat on the sunny deck Rachel and I went out riding for an hour and a half.