Friday Feathered Friend
Words and picture by Louise Thomas.
"I used to avoid posting photos where I had accidentally captured a nictitating membrane - I thought they looked like weird sausage-skin sideways eyelids. Then I read that they are amazing built-in bird goggles, so the bird can blink and still see, or even shutter their eyes in extreme conditions to protect their eyes while flying or diving. Apparently we used to have them too - the pink blob in the inner corner of our eyes is a vestigial membrane. I suppose we evolved out of needing them - still they might have been handy the other day when I was trying to take photos on the beach during a gale. Pūkeko/purple swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus) at Waimanu Lagoon."
Poll: Is it ok to regift something that you have been given?
🎁 Holiday Gift Chat!
Do you ever regift?
What’s your take on asking for a receipt if a gift doesn’t fit?
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79.2% Yes! It's better to regift what I don't need
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20.8% No. It's the thought and effort that matters
Some Choice News!
Many New Zealand gardens aren’t seeing as many monarch butterflies fluttering around their swan plants and flower beds these days — the hungry Asian paper wasp has been taking its toll.
Thanks to people like Alan Baldick, who’s made it his mission to protect the monarch, his neighbours still get to enjoy these beautiful butterflies in their own backyards.
Thinking about planting something to invite more butterflies, bees, and birds into your garden?
Thanks for your mahi, Alan! We hope this brings a smile!
Advice please, declined house insurance cover
Looking for advice please. Has anyone had any issues reinsuring their homes. Our current house insurance went up by 11.5%, so I decided to get another quote. At the end of a very long phone with Tower, they declined to insurance us, saying our property is a landslide risk. I'm on Wyndham Road in Pinehaven. While the house is up off the street, the house itself and backyard are on the flat part of our section. Now - in the interest of full disclosure - I'm going to have to tell our current insurer too. I've rung the Council to see if they've updated their hazards mapping - and they said the only update has been to the Pinehaven Overflow. Have lived in this house since 2003, and insurance has never been an issue till now. TIA
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