I was chuffed to see another of my poems in the DomPost as the ‘Wednesday poem’ last week.  This time it was “Little Blue”, which is about the penguins that nest near Frank Kitts Park in Wellington.

The suburb I live in is called Vogeltown, after Julius Vogel a former New Zealand premier (in the 1870s).  But of course Vogel is also the German word for bird and it’s becoming increasingly apt.  With the opening of the Karori Sanctuary and the Wellington Regional Council’s possum poisoning programme, the birds have been – literally – flocking back.

When I first moved here (eight or nine years ago), I’d see the odd tui around, but it was mostly blackbirds, fantails, waxeyes and riroriro (grey warblers).  And there’s always been a kingfisher frequenting the power lines by the bus-stop. 

Now we’ll get several tui at once (in the lancewood trees outside the bedroom window) and lately, even kaka, which is pretty exciting.  Ruru (morepork) can be heard at night.  One day kereru?  Who knows?  Noisy little buggers, the lot of them.  Bring it on, I say.