Tomtit Ngirungiru on a stick in Rakiura

Tomtit balancing twigs, break and curiosity
The Ngirungiru, or Tomtit, is a very small passerine bird in the Robins-family Petroicidae.
With a maximum length of 12 cm and a weight of 11 gram, it is basically the size of two Ping-Pong balls with wings and tail.

Frenetic enthusiastic
It is also very curious and enthusiastic. Meaning that when it decides you are not a threat when you meet one up close in the forest, it will follow you along for some time. But in a frenetic pattern, jumping between the trees, branches, trail and back up again.

And then maybe, maybe, just be still for a couple of seconds where you get a reasonable shot. Like this one in the forest at Rakiura, Aotearoa.

There are five subspecies of Tomtits, and they have different names in Māori. The South Island and Rakiura Stewart Island variant is called Ngirungiru. The North Island is called Miromiro. And as a loveable little fellow, there are several other Māori and English name for it. Tomtit is an adaptable feather ball, and lives well with most of the changes made to the biodiversity of New Zealand.

#2015CE #Animals #Aotearoa #AotearoaNewZealand #bird #birdparadise #Birds #blue #bluesky #curious #forest #frontdoor #green #Horseshoe #Bay #Kiwi #kiwiexperience #NikonD800 #Māori #NestorMeridionalis #New #Zealand #Ngirungiru #passerine #pingpongball #Rakiura #RakiuraStewartIsland #roadtrip #robins #smallbird #social #southisland #southpacific #StewartIsland #tomtit #weird #birdswood #Ngirungiru #Petroicidae

Today:

- We hiked Ulva Island and saw several kaka
- I enjoyed an excellent flat white at #TheSnuggery
- We saw 5 adult and 1 juvenile kiwi feeding after dark (using red flashlights)

#ThreeGoodThings #NZTravel #Rakiura #StewartIsland #damnlucky

Wrote a guide on visiting Stewart Island, #NewZealand South Island, https://potoo.is/stewart-island-trip-guide/

#stewartisland #rakiura

Stewart Island Rakiura Trip Guide

Note: this is not a guide for the Rakiura Multi-day hike trek. Duration How long to spend on Stewart Island depends on your goals and interest. 3 days would be sufficient to try a variety of activities here but you can also guage how many days in total to spend

The Potoo
Saturday was our biggest day on #Rakiura #StewartIsland. We flew in a small plane from Oban to remote Mason Bay on the west coast and walked back to Freshwater Landing.
Walk from Mason Bay to Freshwater Landing. Starts with a big dune system then a vast peat bog. Lots of board walks. Interesting environment. Also easy and flat all the way.
#Rakiura #StewartIsland
Rakiura/Stewart Island weka taking an interest in my pack. They don't have the slightest fear of humans and lots of curiosity. When we dozed off in the sun one of them settled in next to us for a sleep. Just hanging out with the hoomans.
#weka #Rakiura #StewartIsland
On #Rakiura #StewartIsland for the day. Beautiful weather. #Southland
Roadtrip to Invercargill this morning. Adventure on #StewartIsland is calling. Check have music and I’m off. Garden is looking overgrown but good.

In 2019 Stewart Island was granted $3.16m from the Provincial Growth Fund to help build two wind turbines. That project was canned in 2021 because islanders couldn't agree where to site the turbines.

The entire island is still powered by diesel and electricity prices are going through the roof at 81c per unit.

Pity about the wind turbines.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/130710715/stewart-island-residents-may-face-25-power-price-increase

#NZ #StewartIsland #electricity #windpower

Stewart Island residents may face 25% power price increase

Stewart Island residents already pay more for electricity than mainlanders; now they may be hit with a nearly 25% increase.

Stuff