Friday Bird of the Week.
Hey Neighbourly folk, I am adding a new feature to Neighbourly every Friday. There are some amazing bird photographers in the region and I will be highlighting their best pictures.
This week's picture features my favourtite bird, the beautiful karearea (NZ Falcon). Simon Wooolf took the picture at Wrights Hill, Karori, and wrote an interesting account of the observation.
It settled itself down on a wooden structure, preened itself, and then dosed off! Then the action started.
Three, or four Welcome Swallows decided to dive bomb the Falcon! Now in flight, and in dive mode, Falcon's are the worlds fastest birds. This bird was obviously stationary. Swallows and Swifts feature in the Top Ten Fastest Birds too. The Karearea is a threatened species in NZ. Predators are man, and while breeding cats, ferrets etc, and believe it or not hedgehogs! I have never seen other bird species attack a karearea!
Normally our falcons are fearless. I have had them land a metre away from me. If threatened, and especially in breeding season they are not just fearless, but are brave, and ruthless. Even we humans will depart the scene rapidly if attacked!
Incidentally once awake the karearea took the aerial attacks in its stride and was pretty non-plussed!
I'm pretty rapt with the series of shots I gained, as the swallows were attacking at over 150kph. There was contact made on a couple of occasions, however I wasn't quick enough to catch that part of the action, even with my camera set a1/4000 sec and with my trusty Sigma 150 - 600 lens.
If you get the opportunity to observe these wonderful Taonga of our New Bush, do so. I have never been disappointed!
Simon Woolf.
This one was sent in by your fellow neighbour, can you figure it out?
What is first white then red and the plumper it gets the more the old lady likes it?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
Poll: Is dumping an issue in your neighbourhood?
There's nothing worse than strolling around the streets in your neighbourhood and seeing dumped rubbish.
Have you noticed this in your area? What could we do to combat this around the country?
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43.4% Yes, I've seen some illegal dumping
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56% No, our neighbourhood is pretty good
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0.6% Other - I'll share below
Neighbourly challenge: Who can solve the daily riddle?
I have a crown but am not a king.
I'm prickly on the outside but sweet within.
What am I?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
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