New season Tui

Last night I leaped into bed (well threw myself into) as usual, only to find myself in a wet spot. Actually a great pool of water. With the storm yesterday it appears that rain was driven under the iron on my roof, the roof leaked - and as always seems to be the case it leaked right onto the middle of my bed.

I stripped the bed and remade it with dry sheets and blankets and got back in. Nope, that didn't work - the mattress was absolutely saturated too! So in the end I slept in the spare bed in my home office.

Now, I tell that story really to illustrate the difference between yesterday's weather and today's. This morning started out dreary, we had bits of rain off and on all day, until late afternoon when this happened. The temperature 'soared' to 17 Celc and the sky cleared.

This tui had been about all day in the tree in the middle of the school but my earlier photos of him all had grey backgrounds. This evening, as I was packing up to go home, I heard him again and went out to try for one last capture. I'm glad I did.

For the non-kiwi's - this bird looks black but is actually amazing shades of metallic blue and green when their feathers catch the light. They have a feathery white 'ruff' and a tuft of white feathers under their chin. They are nectar feeders, hence the hooked beak. They stand alongside our waxeyes, fantails and bellbirds as my favourite birds.