Cottonwood and Pig Geese.

At Sanctuary Ponds this morning the air was full of little white bits of fluff and the ground looked as though it had briefly snowed. I didn't get excited because we see this every year as the cottonwood releases it seeds.

The storm a couple of days ago had left behind a lot of debris  from the trees, including twigs and small branches from the cottonwood. My blip is one of those twigs.

I saw today, a bird I have never seen before - in fact there were two of them. They are Cape Barren geese and they have one of the oddest heads I have ever seen. The common name for this bird is the 'pig goose' and if you look at the extras you will see why. They are not native to New Zealand and their presence is thought to be from escaped or released captive birds.

They mate for life and as there are two, perhaps we will see little ones in the future. I would like to know where they came from today as in all my many visits to this area, I have never seen them here before - and they are very distinctive.