Caught in the act

Caught Kayla red-pawed again this morning - she's watching her 5 pieces of fruit a day. We'll obviously have to upgrade her diet.

Spent most of the day (and yesterday) trying to get my head round a fiendishly complicated translation aid that I should have subscribed to years ago, when my grey cells were still vaguely funtional. With the help of a wonderful friend in France, I may have managed to get past first base, but more mountains loom ahead. Hope it's worth it.

Otherwise a good day - HH and I took the dogs for a long walk up the back of the valley that was devastated by the January 2011 floods. We met quite a few people, some repairing the road, but others living and working up there. Until recently, we barely saw a soul. Life is finally returning to something like normal.

Packed up later than usual for the drive down to Rio. When we stopped for petrol, I spotted a bird carrying a twig as long as its body, perched at the top of a very tall conifer. When it hopped further in I saw its nest and realized it was a Rufous Hornero - Red Ovenbird. Over several weeks, they build an oven-shaped nest with twigs, fluff, etc, leaving just a small opening in the front. A real labour of love. They mate for life and it's said that if the female is unfaithful to the male, he walls her into the nest. A friend who was brought up here tells me that's true - as a child, she found at least one abandoned nest with a wee skeleton inside.