Serendipity: Fernbirds, penguins, and hogget in between
This day was full of serendipity: we happened upon the lady with fernbirds in her yard; we went to Curio Bay for fossils, but happened upon Yellow-eyed penguins; and in between? Hogget: it’s an age category of sheep meat between lamb and mutton, which we happened upon in the Invercargill Pack-n-Save butchery.
What a day!
Here is the AA signpost to Bushy Point Fernbirds, where Jenny showed us half a dozen of the mousy, streaky, spiky-tailed birds in her Joint-rush refuge property within 1/2 an hour. No photos of birds — too dark still, and they Fernbirds is furtive — but above is a photo of their lovely habitat: rush, flax, cabbage trees and manuka, all very NZ.
Mutton on the hoof or hoggett? I lean toward hogget, but only the butcher knows for sure. (“It’s the teenage sheep!” the girl explained in the grocery).
A freshly-moulted Yellow-eyed penguin just popped ashore for the night at Curio Bay. It’s standing on Jurassic fossils of a buried podocarp and tree fern forest, but is more interested in preening than geology: penguins may have even less of a concept of fossils than of trees.
(Photos by A. and E. Shock; do click on each to enlarge, they’re so much better…)