Inspection

Waxeyes, Zosterops lateralis aka white-eye, silvereye, or the Maori name is tauhou.


Today I decided that it was wintry enough to start feeding the birds. I don't feed them all year round because there is normally plenty of food for them in the wild. In winter there is not so much. Lately a couple of flocks of waxeyes have been coming for Coprosma berries on the bush the female bellbird has claimed as her own. They will also tuck into bread I put out for the sparrows.

I put in a cane and saucer feeder from last winter and rammed a cut apple on top. Within minutes the waxeyes were fighting over it. However, they held back when the resident pair (I call them The Lovebirds) turned up. As usual they kept very close together. They looked at the apple from several different angles, tasted it, and then and flew off.

When the flocks of waxeyes left in the spring this pair remained. He sang his territorial song around the front lawn. I rarely saw them, but I heard them and saw leaves fluttering. I have no idea if they nested or not. At any rate there is just the two of them, keeping very close.

The bellbird also came to inspect the apple, but she didn't try it. There are plenty of Coprosma berries to go on with.

This is a rather poor shot- taken through a window in very low light. I have lightened the image and increased the contrast, but I can't do anything about the graininess.