Orari welcome

[Mxyzptlk]

We relocated last week: North Island to South. Taken up residence at Orari on a property between the Waihi and Orari Rivers.

Within hours of arriving we were welcomed by what has proved to be the resdient SIPO pair. Their territory includes our property and half a dozen adjacent fields including the ploughed area next door. They are remarkably confiding. Each day they check out our lawn and septic tank drip line for worms before moving on to a large puddle in our drive to bathe in the sun. They were taking a dip when Ms Mxyzptlk arrived home late afteroon on Monday. They looked up at her and refused to shift. She had to drive on the lawn to get round them. From the activity in the plough yesterday we could be on schedule for a nest in the near future.

And our back paddock has a resident Spur-winged Plover pair. It also contains a large mound of top soil I was about to excavate in order to refurbish a damaged lawn. Ms Plover however has decided the land between two cow pats at the foot of the mound is an ideal place for a nest. Mr Plover mounts a shrill defence of the site from the mound top. There are four eggs. I have decided to retreat until babies arrive.

I am banned from shutting the roller door on the four bay shed. We have starlings nesting on top of it. And from the evidence we had Welcome Swallows nesting in that same part of the shed last year.

[Neil Fitzgerald]

What a great welcoming committee! Hope the nests go ok.

[Jan]

Your drive looks like a braided river, no wonder they like it so much.
Orari lovely place to be, Mytspiccy

[Mxyzptlk]

Braided river in flood, popular with local birds, at dawn after recent rain.

[andrewcrossland]

Hi there, In case you don't know the area too well, here's some great spots closeby you may want to check out -
Orari Gorge has/had (?) Blue Duck and I think also bats.
Orari rivermouth shoots out straight to sea, but if you walk north you'll find several nice lagoons full of waterfowl and native waders (potentially also migrants).
Opihi rivermouth has a good lagoon, worth checking on the south side, the main channel and north side, and the string of lagoons northwards along the coast.
Spider Lagoon near Browns beach is a great spot - I've had White-winged Black Tern, Arctic Tern, Pacific Golden Plover, White Heron and frequent Black-fronted Dotterels there.
Washdyke Lgn north of Timaru is a brilliant place
Various shingle pits near Levels speedway and the Phar Lap racecourse once had Aust Little Grebe. The sites we knew about have been filled in and birds gone, but if you get to know the area well you may get access to farm ponds etc and rediscover them.

good luck!

[Mxyzptlk]

I suspect we now have a SIPO nest in the next door ploughed field which, it turns out, has been sown with wheat. One bird has remained closely attached to a position mid-field for the past three days. At dawn this morn I disturbed a large hare in the same field. It bolted away, heading by chance straight to the assumed nest. The second SIPO promptly intersecced it deflecting it away from the nesting bird with an angry display such as I have encountered when stumbling over nesting oystercatchers in the past.

Meanwhile the Spur-winged Plovers in the home paddock continue their nesting arrnagments with four eggs. I have cause to frequently come into that field and they let me know that my presence is not welcome.

Hopefully we shall have happy families soon.

[Neil Fitzgerald]

Have the starlings finished with your shed door, and have the swallows installed themselves anywhere?

[Mxyzptlk]

I regret to report that the SIPO nest failed to survive the supersized agricultural roller in use last Friday. The eggless couple have adjourned to the our worm farm aka septic tank drip line but have been complaining about the lack of pooled water in our drive. That big blow last week sucked the moisture from the top soil throughout the region.

Today, however, we got the the second wet day we have experienced in the past month. It was no more than a sustained Scots' mist but a tiny pool, no more than a few mm deep of muddy water, managed to form after 4 hours. The SIPOs soon found it and took thier ablutions cheerfully in the thin brown mud.

The good news is the Spur-winged Plovers are still nesting and guarding their eggs with vigor. Assuming all is well with the eggs I am expecting babies sometime this week. The paddocks around provide great entertainment whenever a harrier cruises through. Spur-winged couples rise one after t'other donw the length of the road.

And in answer to Neil's question the starlings are back in the shed and using the remains of the door as a nesting site. Hopefully the insurance folk will get their act together soon and we will have brushes fitted above the new door to deter both starlings and swallows. I am propsing to offer starling boxes and high ledges in the open bays of the shed to keep both species happy.

[Mxyzptlk]

Uh uh! Ms Mxyzptlk has just spotted a weasel doing a tour of the property in a rather misty and damp dawn.

[Mxyzptlk]

We have one baby!

Ten days back the Plover parents left their nest site and began roving further afield. They were behaving in the hyperalarmist way that suggested one or more hatchling was around. Any Harrier was seen off the territory pbq. The impending arrival of humans was proclaimed long before we managed to get out gumboots on. But I failed to spot any chick among the spring grass of the back paddock.

Last evening I got a text from Ms Mxyzptlk to say there was one chick on the front lawn accompanied by two over-protective parents. I did not get home until well after dark. As I swing through our gate, there was chick in our wanna-be braided river one parent immeditely behind screaming its head off. Wings wereraised wide, spurs were out, white underside was full-on to the beam of the headlights. It was an impressive show. The chick certainly did not want to leave the super-puddle. It was having too much fun in the dark. Took me a little while to ease both chick and parent onto the lawn.

I shall try for a pic today if they should return.

By the way, the implication is that either three (of the four) eggs failed to hatch or that three chicks have died. I have found no remains around the former nest site.

Yesterday morn started with a White-necked Heron in neighbouring paddock, followed by a Paradise Duck pair checking out the orchard in the Scots Mist. Meanwhile the chickless SPIOs continue to occupy the property as if it was theirs. Still have difficulty coping with looking out the kitchen window of a morn and seeing a SIPO cheek by jowl with a couple of blackbirds, thrush, sparrows, goldfinches and red polls working over a post-rain lawn.