What better thing to do on a grey rainy day that hang out with friends drinking (sugar water)?

The 1st of January 2026 has been a grey rainy day in Ōtautahi-Christchurch, NZ, and that's kept our garden sugar water feeders busy with korimako (NZ bellbirds) and silvereyes.

That's included visits from a couple of banded korimako, Right Red and Right Blue Green, whom we've not seen in our garden since mid-August. They were both regular visitors over the winter months and my guess is they both headed up into the Port Hills bush reserves during the Spring to breed.

Right Red was banded in our garden back in March 2022, and Right Blue Green was banded in our garden in July 2024 (both by my wife who's a certified Level 3 bird bander).

I made 29 observations today of bellbirds seen at our feeders, and that included Right Red twice and Right Blue-Green once, one juvenile once, and all the rest unbanded males.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations?on=2026-01-01&place_id=6803&taxon_id=12612&user_id=jon_sullivan&verifiable=any

#bellbirds #korimako #nz #SugarWaterFeeder #GardenBirds #birds #Christchurch

It is crazy cold at the moment in Ōtautahi-Christchurch, NZ, with snow above us on the adventure park in the hills. As often happens in cold snaps, all the neighbourhood's korimako (NZ bellbirds) have gathered in our garden around our sugar water feeders, and they've been singing non-stop.

It just nuts. Our garden has been singing pretty much non-stop like this for a couple of hours now.

😀

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/287716079

#birds #nz #bellbirds #BirdSong #garden

One of the sounds I miss from the place I come from (near Brisbane, Australia): Bellbirds. There's no sound anywhere else like it. This video was taken during a hike near my Dad's old house in 2009.

https://youtu.be/8rarOn-L2PQ

#birds #birdsong #avian #naturelovers #nature #australia #bellbirds #soundscape #relaxation