An Autumn Dawn Chorus

First post!  Big moment!  Rural ramblings – the good, the bad and the …. ordinary!

This morning our dark dawn chorus is richer in bird song again!  From bed I heard Rosellas harmonising their beautiful, lilting dong call.  Kingfishers were chatting and a Tui singing a virtuoso trill.  Grey Warblers twixing, Fantails flirting!  Later during milking and feedout on this beautiful sunny morning, I heard the wop wop wop of a Kereru flying over. I filter out the less popular calls – a magpie warbling on the bush edge, myna birds yakking, starlings skawking.  All this to a background of the chooks waking up and the chonk as they land from their high roost in the chook house, followed by persistent “feedme!” clucking.  A neighbour’s rooster crows down in the valley. One of the chooks laying early, struts out an egg song of achievement!  And almost all day now, the Grey Warblers warble on, tiny silver sparkles flitting in the manuka, keen to get mating underway for the season!

Back on planet Auckland, the region relaxes to Level One Lockdown restrictions and the most noticeable result here is an increase in overhead air traffic.  We are isolated and insulated from most of Auckland, but now the sky is busy again.  In this COVID mediated world, the commercial air traffic  massively reduced in Level Four last year and hasn’t recovered much. Even under Level Two and Three, the overhead passing small planes and helicopters virtually disappear too, except for occasional emergency rescue helicopters.  Back at Level One now, the ‘learning to fly’ Cessna group returns on the weekend too,  from the small airfields north and southwest of us.  They loop overhead, practicing their flight protocols.  I still hold my breath when they cut the engine to do a mid-air restart.  Count to 10, to 20, whew, the aircraft engine whirrs back into life and I’m relieved to hear it for once!