Riroriro (Grey Warbler)

Firstly, many thanks for all of your stars and hearts for yesterday's monarch. You all kept him on the front page of spotlight for much of the day - the first time I've been there in a long time :-).

I had an unintended day out today. Kiwilizzie and I started with breakfast at the Red Barn just after 10. From there we headed back to watch the Ripper Rugby (very young kids), but we were a bit late and arrived right at the end of the game. We stood around chatting to Kiwicamera for an hour, and watching our seniors warm up for their game and then we headed up the west bank of the Matakitaki River in search of fungi.

We did find some fungi but also found tuis, bellbirds, tomtits and warblers. It was well into the afternoon by the time we'd had enough of photography, so we headed back out to the Red barn for a late lunch. We seem to be doing our best to keep them open over autumn/winter as we have been out there an awful lot lately.

It's the great coffee, food and company that keeps drawing me back :-).

I blipped a grey warbler back in March but it was a pretty dreadful photo - this one is somewhat clearer and the iso didn't need to be quite as high as he at least flitted about in a bit of light. They are so darned fast and never settle for more than half a moment, so are pretty tricky to capture.

This wee chap is New Zealand's second smallest bird (look at those tiny stick legs), the smallest being the Rifleman (Titiponamu) that I blipped in February.