Ducks

Spring is obviously on its way as we have ducklings! At least there are a few little broods appearing around Titirangi. Our resident ducks (in photo) don't seem to have been blessed yet. I am definitely looking forward to the flying lessons when they do arrive. The adults are hilarious. They look like God never meant them to fly. they have to get up quite high to get from the creek over the house into the neighbour's garden where they seem to hang out. They fly past our windows often and always look like their bodies are going too fast for their wings to catch up. I always thought they were hilarious landing on water as it invariably looks like a crash landing with absolutely no grace or tecniquie involved. On land there is a very definite technique which involves hitting the ground with their beak as they pitch forward after crashing into the ground.

We have lots of other birds in the garden too. I have been feeding them on our new feeder. The demographics of the bird population here seem to be similar to that of humans. They are nearly all immigrants round here (introduced rather than migrated) and mostly european. The eastern rosella is australian but the others are sparrows, starlings, and chaffinches. The ntive birds are pretty rare. I can't get my head around the early european settlers wanting to bring a few starlings and sparrows with them to feel at home. They brought lots of trees too.

Ian and I have found a new hobby. The other day I bought three 10" by 10" canvases from the Warehouse (NZ's cheap store that stocks just about anything), and acrylic paints and we painted some pictures for Ethan's room: a truck, tractor and a car. Ian did the car, a Jag in British racing green. I don't think anyone is going to be asking "Where did you buy those?" but they brighten up his room a bit. It is strange being in a rental again and not being able to do any redecorating or renovations to the house.