Chthonic Wildlife Ramblings

One of the most entertaining visitors to local gardens is the tauhou or slivereye (Zosterops lateralis). This species is of Australian origin, and was only established in NZ in the 19th Century. This was a natural colonisation, and typical of the steady drift of Australian birds across the Tasman Sea to NZ. The Maori name tauhou means stranger.

The bird is quite the acrobat, able to drop from a perch, twist and resume flight with just a flick of its wings. It also has plenty of attitude. It's not intimidated by bigger species, and will scold or fly at larger birds that encroach on its "personal space".

Here's a couple of photos. Don't forget to click the link to the larger images.


Link to larger image


Link to larger image

This is also likely to be the last blog post I make for a couple of weeks. I'm heading to Australia shortly for a photographic expedition around Darwin.