Petroica macrocephala macrocephala

Yesterday backblipped...

Very tempted to blip this effort of a Fernbird, because it's a hard one to find (let alone photograph!) and it's as of yet unclaimed for the BlipBigYear. But I like this picture more and it's a lifer! This is the South Island Tomtit, one of five subspecies of the endemic Petroica macrocephala. Other subspecies are found on the North, Chatham, Snares, and Auckland Islands. The Tomtit is one of four endemic New Zealand species of Australian robins. Arguably the cutest birds of all, the family is characterized by small roundish heads and bodies, dainty bills, short tails, and animated habits, including hopping behind you on the trail to pick up any bugs that get stirred up by your feet.

This is the male. You can tell by the black body and that soft lemon yellow breast. Females are brownish overall.

I saw this one, along with the Fernbird, some Bellbirds, Silvereyes, and another new one, the Grey Warbler, on the native bush walk leading to Tautuku Estuary, in the heart of the Catlins. This is the best birding for native forest birds I've had in New Zealand since my week on Tiritiri Matangi 2 months ago. It's amazing what that walk through the bush did to settle and utterly dispel the various doubts and worries and feelings of loneliness and homesickness that have been arising, lately with challenging frequency.

Watching these birds that have made this forest their home for tens of millions of years, flitting around silently in the trees, going about their lives, gleaning insects from the leaves and the air; being as they always have been--this is a perfect experience for me. I am truly happy. This is the moment I make the long, lonely trip for: to watch the bird quietly be a bird.