Welcome Swallow

… does not make a summer, nor does a whole flock of them as I saw them next to Island Road, Mangere. It’s the day of the June solstice (June 21, 2012 at 11:08 AM, NZ time), and we are on the wintery hemisphere. But the days are about to get longer, and Matariki festivities are taking place.

Reading up on Welcome Swallows (hirundo tahitica), I was surprised to find that the first records of these birds breeding in NZ are as recent as 1958. Now they are common birds, flitting over all waterways, certainly in the Auckland area.

Welcome Swallow