Complaining about a human presence

This is the time of the year when Tarapunga swoop, shriek and scare off other birds, as they try to scare me away. I figure that it has to do with a display of their fitness to mate with the female red-billed gulls. I have found that threatening them with their aggressive acts being photographed has an effect; raising my camera is enough to make them pause a while.

On this 17th day of the level 4 lockdown in Auckland, the number of new cases reported today has dropped to 28. I would not have been surprised if there had been an increase from yesterday. Officials are warning that there is likely to be a "long tail". These numbers do suggest though, that the infection rate (R) is less than 1, reinforcing that the strategy of continuing to work to eliminate the virus from our community offers the best for the health of New Zealanders. 

Of interest is that over 80% of New Zealanders in a poll agreed with the strategy of lockdowns. This was in whatever way the respondents were grouped. There was a difference between those who just endorsed the lockdown, and those who endorsed lockdowns until there is a high level of vaccination. We remain fairly low in the proportion of the population vaccinated, although that is increasing rapidly.

S and I have been in our house here except for when I have my (almost) daily run or walk, and when I do the supermarket run. Initially, we didn't know if we might be protecting others due to our contact with C and her boys. They have tested negative for Covid three times each and are symptom free, and we have had no other "exposure". Staying indoors is now self-protective.

I've put up a photo of a Tuturiwhatu (NZ dotterel) which had had a quick bathe in the water left when the tide went out. I was delighted to count 14 of these little birds spread over the mudflats at Southend. That's the most I've seen on a single occasion, and a couple of years ago there was real concern that they were disappearing from Snells Beach. A concerted local effort at protecting them during the nesting time appears to be working.