I get a lot of enjoyment watching his antics; the seat outside is getting spottier by the day and he spends a lot of his time either looking through the window or checking out his reflection. He'll often swoop down when I'm getting firewood or checking the traps around the house and usually greets me with his whistle.
There's a lot of other small birds around at present; I'm wondering if it's because of the woodpiles around harbouring more insects. I was entertained by 3 piwakawaka (fantails) dancing around catching insects and a small flock of tauhou (waxeye/silvereye) were checking out the back of the house this morning. There's usually birdsong most of the time here so it was noticeable when it suddenly got very quiet - I looked up and kahu (swamp or Australasian harrier) was patrolling the skies - hopefully for rats rather than my little feathered friends!
Another visitor was a lot smaller but just as welcome; a wee fruit fly lookalike was by the ranchslider and posed patiently for me whilst I took photos. It wasn't until I downloaded the pics from the camera that I noticed how unusual the markings and shape of its abdomen. It wasn't up on NatureWatch for long before an eagle-eyed Stephen identified it as a possible undescribed species of Prosochaeta. I can't find much information on this native species but Stephen has a fab photo of a similar one here.
