We heard the mōhua before we saw them. Like our experiences with their cousins, they were most often spotted high above us in the trees peering down and chattering to one another.
Tag: Birdwatching
A Few Feathered Faces of Chitwan National Park, Nepal
We were only in the national park for a few days, but my camera was firing off shots left right and centre the entire time. Since returning to the UK, we have been crazily busy with ecological surveys, but I (not Emma as she is working away for the week) now have some down time…
Nepal’s First National Park: Chitwan National Park
After exploring Nepal’s capital city, Kathmandu, and getting acquainted with the urban macaques, we decided to head south towards the jungle near the border of India. Tom and I enjoy the hustle and bustle of cities and all the culture and history that comes with it, but what we love most is being out in…
Mātātā: The New Zealand Fernbird
A Secretive Onlooker While tramping in the Kaweka & Kaimanawa Forest Parks, New Zealand, (see our previous blog post on that adventure here) we came across a curious sound emanating from some scrub within the wetland we were walking through. In between calls, the foliage would shake gently as it made its way to a new vantage…
Lake of the Blag Shags: A Few Faces From Whanganui’s Virginia Lake
If you are ever in Whanganui (North Island, New Zealand), make sure you take a wander around Virginia Lake. We headed out there for a walk a few weeks ago and took some snaps of the birdlife we saw. We’ll share those photos with you in today’s post along with a few key facts. The…
A New Zealand Summer Migrant: The Elusive Shining Cuckoo
A Familiar Noise Most, if not all of those that have spent time outdoors in New Zealand’s summer, will recognise this noise: Weep weep weep weep weep woooooop (click to listen). Few of these people, however, will have actually seen the creature that belts out this long, repetitive whistling tune. The reason for this is perhaps down…
The Atlantic Puffin: Fun Facts Edition!
Did you know that ‘Puffinus puffinus’ is not the Latin name for any of the three puffin species?
How many Sandeels do you reckon a puffin can hold in its beak at once?
What is the oldest recorded lifespan of an Atlantic puffin on Skomer Island?
Read our blog post to find out. 🙂
Our Local Green Woodpecker Family
We have had the builders in putting up an extension to the house since our last post about our resident female Green Woodpecker. As a result of the building works, we haven’t been able to get into the garden as much as we would normally. We haven’t even been able to hear the ‘yaffling’ of…
The Green Woodpecker: Professor Yaffle Comes to Say, “Hello!”
After hearing some interesting bird calls from over the wall, Tom took his long lens and I grabbed my binos and we went on the hunt.
The Baya Weaver (One Way to Please Her: Become a Master Weaver)
After an adventurous Malaysian jungle experience, we were back in the 4×4 heading out of the forest and soon bouncing our way down the dusty tracks surrounded by oil palm plantations. I had one more ask of our extremely patient guide and friend, Mr Lam. Several days earlier on the way into Endau Rompin National Park, we…
The Rhinoceros Hornbill : Malaysia’s National Bird
…Their most striking feature, their casque (the head ornament that looks like a second bill, or rhinoceros horn) is thought to have a similar function to that of hadrosaur’s head crest.
Exploring the Malaysian Jungle: Endau-Rompin National Park
Tom and I spend the southern hemisphere’s summer in New Zealand, my home country, and the northern hemisphere’s summer in England, Tom’s home country. We follow the summer because it is also the ecology season when we get most work. The flight can be pretty long when you have to travel half-way around the globe, so…
ZOOMOLOGY BLOG 