Put some late citrus out for the birds. I mean that thing where you cut it in half for them. We put ours in the branches of a tree that has no leaves in winter so they can see it/get it easily.

I love watching the little waxeyes/silvereyes/tauhou hopping around on them enjoying a feast.

[–] d3Xt3r 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Speaking of waxeyes, one of the words in yesterday's Waffle was "pipit" - which I got wrong. I assumed it was "pipet", and as a result, I couldn't get a perfect score. "Pipit" was a new word for me, so I looked it up, and then I learnt about passerines, and how it included waxeyes/tauhou.

I like when random things like that lead me down a rabbit hole of learning.

[–] liv 3 points 1 year ago

Omigosh thank you for sharing "pipit"! I have this really weird memory of seeing what I thought was a super odd thrush/sparrow cross down near the Kaingaroa forest and I bet this is what it really was!

[–] Dave 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh that's a cool idea. What kind of citrus do they like? I'm assuming not lemons (that we have an abundance of)?

[–] liv 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We give them tangelos, oranges, mandarins. Haven't tried grapefruit but I bet they would like it if it's sweet. You have to cut them so that there's a cross-section of open segments (like how people do for breakfast grapefruit halves).

It's really cool because often they won't go near windfall fruit but as soon as it's cut open and up on a stick or tree they love it. Tui eat it too, especially in winter when there's not a lot else going on.

[–] Dave 2 points 1 year ago

Awesome, I'll give it a go next time the kids go through a phase of really liking oranges, then suddenly won't touch them 😆