Holiday Haven birds

I'm going to concentrate on just birds with this post. We were lucky to see some during our visit to this coast.  Well, truth be told, I'll also throw in some pictures of things related to birds. Trees, and berries, and who knows what else.  Better to say I suppose that this post was inspired by birds.

I noticed this in a window in the living room when we arrived. I had thrown open the drapes and there it was.  

The very next morning, as Jeanne and I sat sipping coffee at the table on the deck, a couple of real wood pigeons arrived on the branches of a nearby tree. One flew off almost immediately, but I was able to snap several pictures of the other before it too, continued its morning's rounds elsewhere.  

Wood pigeons are native to New Zealand.    

These are cabbage palms.  The land on this side of the house falls away very rapidly so the deck is close to the level of the tree tops...  

...or even above them in some places.  This is a view of the forests and bay off the front, right corner of the deck.  

And here are our friends.  The one on the bottom flew away right after I snapped this. I caught just its tail feathers in the follow-up shot. 

I think they are intelligent looking birds.

 A tall karaka tree is next to the deck. In the lower center you can see some orange colored fruit.  

Wood pigeons are large enough to swallow the fruit whole. 

I read that wood pigeons love overripe fruit and will often congregate when piles of of it ferment. They'll eat until they stumble. They've been known to have to sleep it off a bit before they can fly home...  

(The flesh of the karaka is edible by humans. In fact, I have found karaka jam recipes on-line. Today, as I walked home from shopping and passed a couple of trees, I picked three to try. They were somewhat past their prime, beginning to be a little dried out. They didn't have much flavor.  However, if I was hungry and this was available, I know I'd find them more acceptable. (They did not taste bad, just not good) The kernels are edible ONLY after boiling them for hours or soaking in changes of water for many days to remove the toxins they contain. They were an important food for the early Maori.) 

This is a picture of a karaka tree just outside the mall in Henderson. 

(We're back at Nook Road now.) 

I took this series of pictures the same day as I got the morning shots.

Also as seen from the deck, this black tree fern is about 30 feet high. 

This tui was eating something from it but I couldn't tell what. 

This one doesn't show all it's characteristics in this shot so I've included a small picture below from a Wikipedia article.

The ubiquitous chicken.  A couple of them belong to the house and have their pen and coop across the garden.  I took a closer look at this bird after taking his picture. Definitely Not an intelligent looking specimen.      -djf