Tuis at Christmas time

In the week or so preceding Christmas the majority of the Tuis disappeared. This is a pattern I have observed in past years. The Sugar water feeder did not require refilling for two days. Food supplies may be very abundant perhaps and with warm, dry weather the need for extra “fast food” could well diminish.
However on wet days or cold, windy days who should pop back but the Tuis…..wise birds with good memories.
The other possibility is that the Manuka flowers at this time of the year, so yet another addition to their food supply. This year, like so many other natives, it has been a prolific flowering season for Manuka.
Today the weather has been hot, humid and rainy. Late this afternoon these two appeared and flirted and flitted between the feeder, the white tulip flowered Magnolia and the flowering Pohutukawas across the road.

There was much puffery which I have learnt can precede some afternoon delight and very enthusiastic singing at each other as only Tui can.

It is lively and loud song but does not prohibit branch hopping and acrobatics all at the same time and then gone!!

Flying off and away.

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Star Magnolia

At Aotea lagoon…..

Star Magnolia

Autumn glow

I wandered about the garden on Sunday afternoon in temperatures reaching up to 20 C. It was hot and sunny with that lovely mellow light of autumn. I wanted to take photos of the native plants in the garden to share with you here on the blog.

As I was doing that and checking to see if I had missed any down in the tall tree corner, my eye was caught by the glow of the sun through the thick, glossy, tough leaves of the Magnolia.

This is the non-deciduous Magnolia which produces huge creamy coloured “tulip” flowers. (Note: while it does not shed its leaves in a seasonal burst like my other Magnolia does, it certainly drops lots and lots of leathery leaves all year round but mostly during summer.)

I was surprised that the sun could penetrate such leathery leaves that, en masse, form great light blocking density.

It was an extra and unexpected pleasure on my garden stroll.

It is………………

For those of you playing at home here is the answer to the question I posed on my blog yesterday.

The gnarly looking, pinkish red coloured object, which I think looks a bit like a Chinese dragon form is a seed pod off our deciduous magnolia tree.

This season there are lots and lots of these pods, most of them smaller than this one but of varying shapes. I don’t remember seeing so many pods before.

Here is another such pod showing the brightly coloured seeds almost ready to fall out.

And here are two seeds from a pod that was fully open but the seeds had yet to detach their pale thread from the pod. I have plucked the seeds out.

I’ve yet to see a tiny magnolia tree sprouting beneath the mature tree but most of the seeds would fall onto concrete here.

I’m glad my curiosity led me to this discovery.