I usually hear visitors arriving but yesterday morning I was surprised by three lots of visitors that didn't arrive by car. I was sitting on the deck drinking my coffee when the gravel path by the side of the house 'crunched' as though someone was walking towards me. It was too light a footstep to be a person and not likely to be kiwi at 10am! My camera was in my pocket so I turned it on and peeked around the side of the house. Nothing! I climbed up on the seat and heard more gravel being disturbed by the raised bed. Next moment the culprit was spotted over by the garage...
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| Mr Duck behind the blackcurrants |
A quack from over by the water tank alerted me to Mrs Duck's presence - she was checking out the mesclun seedlings that I was clearing out before my coffee. I watched while Mr Duck walked around the back of the shade house, stumbled over the post weighing the frame down and waddled up to Mrs Duck. They greeted by touching bills before wandering back down the driveway.
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| Sweetheart ducks |
I'd no sooner sat down when what looked like a dragonfly wafted past in the breeze. It swung back a couple of times before latching on to the deck post and I saw that it was a long, skinny spider with extra long legs. I've seen one of these before and put it up on NatureWatch
here - a big-jawed orbweb or tetragnathid spider, characterised by long legs and large chelicerae (mouthparts). It floated in on a web strand relying on the wind to take it to new territory. Perhaps tired after its big adventure, it stayed very still for me to capture it in photos.
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| What big mouthparts you have! |
My third lot of visitors was a flock of 50 tui flying from the gum trees to the large rimu tree pictured in most of my sunset pics. They flew in small groups so I was able to accurately count them - it's the first time I've seen a tui raid over my section but no doubt I'll have more when my fuchsia seedlings grow into big trees.
