Tui for my birthday

Another birthday card. This one s from New Zealand and it shows Tui bird sitting on Potuhukawa blooming tree. I love this card!

Birds of New Zealand

New Zealand as a country located on an archipelago is very isolated and thanks to that 75% of the species are endemic. The most famous bird from New Zealand is Kiwi but it's obviously not the only one. 

My favourite is Little Blue Penguin which is the smallest species of penguins in the world and it lives only in New Zealand and Australia (they were also spoted in Chile and South Africa but there were only few cases). It has few different names-Fairy Penguin, Little Penguin, Blue Penguin, Kororā. I have a thing for those birds- I remember spending over an hour just looking at penguins in Zoo in Prague ;) The Little Blue one is only 30-33 cm tall and weights1,5 kg. I'm not the only one who likes those birds- Linus Torvalds had a "fixation for flightless, fat waterfowl" and claims to have contracted "penguinitis" after being gently nibbled by a penguin: "Penguinitis makes you stay awake at nights just thinking about penguins and feeling great love towards them." Torvalds' supposed illness is a joke, but he really was bitten by a Little Penguin on a visit to the National Zoo & Aquarium, Australia.Torvalds was looking for something fun and sympathetic to associate with Linux, and a slightly fat penguin sitting down after having had a great meal perfectly fit the bill. 

Kiwi, kiwi, kiwi

I'm one of those lucky ones that has a boyfriend who understands and supports girl's passion. Mine even helps me with my little collection and this postcard is from him :)

Kiwi postcard from a Kiwi 

Kiwis are the most recognizable symbol of New Zealand. The relation is so strong that  world 'kiwi' became also an informal synonim of New Zealander. New Zealand dollar is often called a kiwi dollar. During the Firts World War the soliders from New Zealand were called kiwis and they have carved a giant kiwi on the chalk hill in England. Kiwi is present in the coates of arms, crests and badges all over in the country.

Kiwis are flightless, cute birds which are endangered due to deforestation. The birds are quite shy and they are active by night. Unlikely to the other birds, Kiwis have highly developed sense of smell and they have nostrils located at the top of the beak. They eat fruits and insects. 

Kiwis are monogamists- once bonded they live entire life together and the relationships may last up to 20 years. Isn't that great? The egg can weight 1/4 of the body weight and it's the biggest among the birds in proportion to their body size. That means that their eggs may be 6 x bigger than chicken eggs! Similary to pinguins, the male incubates the egg.

The Māori calls themselves the Kiwi guardians and also believe that birds are under protected by Tane Mahuta- god of the forest.

I can't wait till I see a kiwi myself.