No, not the famous NYC jazz club of the same name and Charlie Parker fame, but we have a "birdland" of sorts in the gardens here at Struan Farm. We've been seeing a pair of kingfishers several times each day. They love perching on the silk tree and the weeping silver birch, to get perspective on life or (more likely) insects.
John and I were sitting out on the deck having an afternoon coffee a few days ago when a pair of small, vividly coloured birds landed on the lawn. I'd seen one similar the day before on the garden gate and pointed it out to John, but his bird vision isn't quite as finely tuned as mine. Neither of us recognised them, so I dug out our field guide. These were goldfinches!
They have distinctive red, yellow, black and white markings, with brown on their backs. While not native, they are quite common in New Zealand, and it turns out they like to feed on freshly mown lawns. We'll look for them now after the Mad Mower does this thing.
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