Welcome swallows/warou - heralds of spring and adobe nest builders
Welcome swallows/warou (Hirundo neoxena) are New Zealand's newest native bird - having arrived here from Australia under their own steam in enough numbers to breed sometime in the 1950s (although there are records of them here as far back as the 1920s). They can be found in many places throughout the Hutt around coastal areas and along our waterways. You can see them hawking for insects over the Hutt River in the early evening between the Ava Railbridge and the Ewen Bridge. They are brilliant architects, building adobe-style pudding-bowl-sized nests often on the sheltered and shaded sides of human buildings. Talk about adaptation. I watched a pair patiently scooping up beakfuls of mud, disappearing, and returning moments later for another beakful. It must take them hundreds of beakfuls of mud to get the nest finished – which is lined with comfy grass and feathers once the mud shell is complete. I've yet to get a good photo of a swallow in flight, but here are two briefly standing still. The second shows one of a pair scooping mud for a nest a few weeks ago.
Poll: Would you want an unconventional funeral?
Funerals can cost as much as $22,000 and the planning can be stressful especially at a time when loved ones are grieving. Some New Zealanders are re-imagining funerals by making their own coffin or having a relaxed ceremony at home. Would you want a less traditional funeral? Share your thoughts below.
Type 'Not For Print' if you wish your comments to be excluded from the Conversations column of your local paper.
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84.3% Yes
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13.8% No
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1.9% Other - I'll share below!
Riddle me this...
You show up for Monday's class and find that it's been postponed. It will be held three days after the day before the day after tomorrow. What day should you show up?
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