My wildlife experiences these days are pretty much confined to my backyard and a daily ramble around the village of Greytown, New Zealand. During my daily walks, it is the birds which attract my attention: skylarks, (“Hail to thee, blithe spirit”), goldfinches, (“gaillard he was as a goldfynch in the shawe”), black birds, (“shouting all day at nothing in leafy dells alone”), the song thrush, greenfinch, chaffinch, dunnock, california quail, house sparrow, eastern rosella, Australian magpie, starling, yellowhammer –foreigners all. Most of them were introduced in the nineteenth century as bio-agents to control plagues of insects brought about by the wholesale destruction of the bush and the consequential severe disruption of the eco-system. I welcome them all, knowing that in the not too distant future we may be lucky to see any bird at all. I do see the odd native bird; kotare, the kingfisher, pipiwharauroa, the shining cuckoo and its dupe ...
Writing about nature, particularly birdlife, in Greytown, New Zealand. With apologies to Aldo Leopold. rooks, corvus frugeligus
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