All The Birds Of Spring...
Join me in my garden
Hi lovely reader 👋
First of all, if you're new here, my name is Sophie. I’m on a journey to slow down, reconnect with nature, and live more intentionally. After moving off-grid, I’m sharing lessons on rewilding, simplicity, and finding balance in a busy world, without any of the fluff.
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This week I want to take you along a little journey in my garden. Now that spring has arrived all the birdlife has returned. We’ve missed them during winter and it’s like our long lost family and friends have finally come home.
My husband and I like to pretend we know them all by their first names, and even more so we like to pretend they’re always the same birds. Deep down, I’m aware that humans are actually incredibly bad at telling individual birds apart. In fact, when you put two male Eclectus parrots together, my husband can’t even tell which one is ours, you know, the bird that has been living in our house for the past eight years.
What immediately caught our attention when we first set foot here, in the place we now call home, was the birdsong. The area is part of a project to bring the Bellbird back, and every hour of the day, you can hear the beautiful tones of Bellbirds and Tui. I can never really distinguish which is which, but when their clicks, whistles and bells sound throughout the forest, it’s almost from another world.
The Tui are often the first ones to wake up; their song is so erratic and complex that it seems to quieten all the other birds. Everyone else goes quiet so they can better hear the song of the Tui as it is carried on the wind through the trees. Their song when the sun is still rising is the definition of the word “eery”. Their bells and clicks float through the air and there’s something completely magical about it.
(I’m using stockphotos by the way because I can only dream of being capable of such beautiful photography - all credit goes to the wonderful photographers who have captured these images)
While Tui and Bellbirds have the most magical song, it’s often interrupted by the territorial call of the Kingfisher with his kek-kek-kek. I often describe them as the little yapping dogs of birdlife. Each year, we have a Kingfisher family who make their nest right next to our house, so it’s visible when you’re using the long drop (or outhouse). We like to believe it’s Lenny the Kingfisher each year. Here he is below. Lenny likes to follow us around when we are outside and yell at us with his loud kek-kek-kek. I think he’s trying to say that he loves us a lot, but I’m only guessing.
Last summer, we witnessed Lenny raise his kids, from the baby stage with their incessant screeching demanding food to learning how to fly stage to hunting for their own food stage, all from the comfort of our little outhouse. We watched a family live out their entire life, find their home, have babies, raise their children and see them move out, all while on the toilet. This year Lenny made his nest at exactly the same place. I can’t wait to watch his little baby Kingfishers learn how to fly again. Their little wobbles and tumbles, while they’re trying to balance in the air, were the highlight of my summer.
This year we are also home to two Barn Swallows who have decided to nest in our outhouse (which technically makes them Long Drop Swallows, as we would say in New Zealand).
Zippy and Zoppy are quite likely the two most ridiculously cute creatures I’ve ever encountered. Initially, they were quite surprised to find out what we were doing in “their” house, but now, they’ve fully accepted that a few times per evening, these strange humans will disrupt their sleep. They’re so used to us now that they barely wake up. Mr Zoppy will always give me a slightly annoyed look, but Mrs Zippy doesn’t even move her little bird butt.
Their little twittering chirps as they fly, zigzagging effortlessly through the air, always cheer me up. We’ve become so protective over them. I hope Mrs Zippy will have lots of healthy babies soon.
There are so many birds and they all live so peacefully. We do our best to create an environment that welcomes our native birds. This is why we actively trap pests and predators; while I know many may not like hearing this, we believe it’s an important part of creating an environment that allows New Zealand’s native species to thrive. We are #teambird all the way.
It’s such a joy to see them all flying around in their own unique ways. As the Kererū flies past, his wings sound as if he ate one too many berry and is now struggling to keep his full body in the air. The Swallows are the exact opposite, with their fast urgent flight, dancing together in the air. The Tui is always flapping and beating his wings fast and loud for some extra dramatic effect and the Kingfisher zips past as if he’s got somewhere to be. Who needs a TV when this is your daily view?
As the day ends and the sun sets, the forest goes to sleep. All the birds go quiet and settle in for the night. That’s when we can hear the Ruru, or Morepork, who starts his hauntingly beautiful call drifting through the trees. The sound is calm and slow, our Ruru is not in a hurry at all. He’s got all night.
Something that inspired me this week:
I came across this video in the newsletter Mental Health Matters. It’s Richard Feynman talking about the beauty of nature and how science and understanding adds to the excitement and beauty.
Here’s one beautiful quote from the video: “I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing, I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers, and possible beliefs, and different degrees of certainty about different things, but I'm not absolutely sure of anything, and many things I don't know anything about. But I don't have to know an answer, I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose - which is the way it really is as far as I can tell, possibly.”
This is what you can expect from me every week! A long-form article related to a reflection or life lesson on personal growth and one thing that inspired me this week. If you liked this, don’t keep it to yourself; share it with your friends:
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Magical. A good late evening read. I shall go to sleep dreaming about your birds.
What a wonderful story! When you make the space to just observe, it's amazing how many stories and lessons and how much beauty nature shares with us. I love that you've been able to watch Lenny grow his family. all from the comfort of outhouse. I bet he does love you a lot :)!