A wee visitor
Somewhere in the panic between the explosive failure of our stove and the arrival of our goodies, a friend dropped by for a visit.
Sadly, he needed a little help to find his way to the door.
But with a little persuasion he was able to let himself out.
Category: Uncategorized 5 comments »
May 30th, 2007 at 9:54 am
Seeing the picture of your wee visitor, I am wondering . . . no screens? No mosquitos? So I googled “insects in New Zealand” and right at the top of the list is this charming site sponsored by Landcare Research:
http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/education/insects_spiders/
or, if you prefer Maori
http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/education/insects_spiders/maori/insects/
Following the “What is this bug” link, I found:
“The mosquitoes of New Zealand
New Zealand has an unusual and interesting mosquito fauna. All New Zealand mosquitoes are in the subfamily Culicinae. At the present time (2004) there are 16 species (in 6 genera) known from New Zealand, 13 species are native and 12 of these are found nowhere else in the world, i.e. they are endemic. Two of the three introduced species have been in New Zealand a long time, probably arriving with whalers on sailing ships in the 19th century. The third introduced species (Ochlerotatus camptorhynchus) arrived about 1998 and was first found in swamp land near Napier. Some species are widespread geographically, while others are found in only parts of the country.”
May 30th, 2007 at 11:05 am
Nope, no screens. I haven’t noticed myself being bothered by mosquitoes yet, despite the bathtub full of tepid, murky water buried on our backyard.
Our camping experiences have been marred by blackflies (or was that sandflies?), though. Well, they aren’t real Minnesota blackflies, because they’re larger, somewhat less bitey, and slow/stupid enough to catch and kill. But still annoying.
May 30th, 2007 at 11:20 am
Apparently “what is this bug ?” is the most popular section of the landcare website. The sections on pest control run a close second. It’s a good thing control advice is divided by pest; they probably split the vote and allow curiosity to outpoll killing.
I have also marveled at the lack of mosquitos in both town and country. our house is much invaded by house flies and (consequently?) spiders, but nothing that bites us. The backcountry is infested with sandflies and the biggest, most inquisitive bees I’ve ever seen, but no skeeters.
May 30th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
1. The bird suddenly appeared while you were opening your boxes? Sounds suspicious to me! Alert the Home(is)land Security.
2. Apparently genus, common name, et. al., is so obvious to all others that there is no need to mention it in the posting, but I am not too proud to ask: Does Wee Visitor have any other names?
3. Left at the window but only a bit longer, he may have become a wee wee visitor.
May 30th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Carduelis carduelis , known around here as a goldfinch. Introduced from europe as soon as the first settlers were done with the deer, rabbits and stoats (to eat the rabbits, you know). I don’t know if it’s closely related to the american goldfinch. Those english, they just re-use the same names on each continent, whether there’s any resemblance to the original or not. one of these days I’ll write a post about “native flaxes”, which are, in fact, not flaxes but agaves.
side note – with species like the chaffinch and the goldfinch to choose from ( www. whatbird.co.nz) , who decided to release starlings in the US?