A few thousand words

It has actually been busier here than I would have anticipated. That doesn't mean I haven't been taking pictures, though. Most of them of birds, but not exclusively. So here is a mix of bird pictures for you to enjoy (fingers crossed). The first picture is of an extremely rare bird, the Takahe. There are only 300 left in the world with 16 on Kapiti Island, where this one was taken. Because they are flightless, they breed on the ground. With the introduction of rats, possums, weasels, etc., who like eating bird eggs, they were nearly wiped out. NZ has worked extremely hard and diligently to eradicate these vermin from the islands in order to preserve birds like the Takahe and the Kiwi. As you know, we live in Paekakariki, which means land of the Kakariki Parrot. The second picture is of a Red-Crowned Parrot, also known as the Kakariki. It was a very dark and rainy day when I took this picture, again at Kapiti, so it is not as clear and crisp as I would like. The third picture is of a Black Swan cleaning itself at Nga Manu, a nature reserve a little north of us. The Black Swan is a very common bird here. The final one is of a Bellbird, also taken at Kapiti.