My kowhai tree is flowering;

the resident tui sits atop the tree, warbling, clucking, chuckling and whistling, king of all he surveys.
An intruder, another tui, flies into the tree, seeking the nectar from the mass of daffodil-yellow flowers.
The resident tui challenges, and the two birds swoop and circle in an aerial dogfight,wings clattering and whooshing as the birds wheel and jink, sunlight sparking iridescent fire from their shining feathers.
The intruder retreats and the resident bird returns to the top of the tree, chuckling and whistling in triumph.

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

Elevatorpitches · F

beautiful!

novaguy2u · 70-79, M

@Elevatorpitches It's sad, but as the new leaves are breaking out, the lovely buttercup yellow flowers are falling off. Now that the flowers are going, the tuis have moved further away in search of nectar. I miss their raucous squabbling and fighting over the flowers.

novaguy2u · 70-79, M

@novaguy2u The flowers are all but gone, but the tuis still fight over them.

Elevatorpitches · F

@novaguy2u The birds aren't in my backyard this summer, was away and before that very ill 4 a long time and so they are kinda gone now...the blooming season here is past peak and it's time to prune stuff, and put out the birdseed, never knew how attached I have become to those little feather-babies...

novaguy2u · 70-79, M

@Elevatorpitches All the fruiting trees are flowering, ad are a lot of the ornamentals, and the wildflowers up my driveway are coming out too. It's very colourful!

Elevatorpitches · F

@novaguy2u sounds just delightful!

novaguy2u · 70-79, M

@Elevatorpitches 😊

KiwiBird · 36-40, F

@novaguy2u Tūī is both the singular and plural. Māori does not have an 'S' in it's alphabet.