Miromiro - Kia ora & welcome

Just back from another fortnight at The Palms. Temperature was hot, water was warm and the beer was ice cold: what are we doing back in Wellington? Good question: I have no coherent or logical answer for you.

Well, maybe for Juno's second birthday. Managed to sneak back into the country before they could charge us for another seat on the plane. Hah! You can see a couple of snaps on the Images page. There is also a movie or two if you are keen to burn up (a relatively small amount of) your broadband quota.

Also managed to add to the Ryan menagerie. Not sure how exactly, it seems that we picked up another hound on TradeMe while we were on holiday. I have been asking Jess about it but she is taking the fifth. I have posted some shots to Flickr, for those of you with a weakness for puppy snaps.

Meg, short for Megabyte, is a 15 week old Border Collie/Huntaway cross. Not sure how Max is taking the arrival of the interloper, but she seems pretty happy with the new setup.

Miromiro

Macrocephala toitoi or tomtit

The Miromiro, while tiny in size, played an important role in old Māori rituals, from birth to death. Like the bat, fantail and morepork, appearance of this bird unexpectedly inside a house was regarded as an aitua, omen of misfortune. It was regarded as a medium to the gods. The verb “miro” or “mimiro”, perhaps gives a key to the import of the bird’s name, for it means “to twist or twirl rapidly”, “to move quickly”. Its sharp sight in seeking out insects and grubs is recalled in the saying about an observant person, he karu miromiro, having a tomtit’s eye. It can spot an insect up to 10 metres away.

North Island Miromiro: male (left) and female.

The bird was nicknamed torotoro, or scout by Māori for its habit of appearing from nowhere in the forest. It was the first to settle on the water troughs with snares attached to them, a scout for the pigeons coming to drink. Then there was its habit of scratching the ground over which an enemy had walked. This was a telltale sign to the warrior looking for footprints of his foe.

In the battle between the land and sea birds in ancient times the Miromiro had a special job too, as torotoro for the land birds, to keep watch on the movements of the enemy. It was considered best suited because of its keen and quick vision, its ability to move rapidly but secretly.

There is no doubt also that “the Miromiro is the lovebird”, He manu aroha te miromiro, as the old saying goes, for it was the go–between when a husband wanted to get an errant wife back. The Miromiro was selected because it was believed that it had influence, was related to Maui, therefore his mana, since it had alighted, as Maui, on a ko in the Underworld.

To cast an atahu, or love charm, a husband would consult the tohunga and the Miromiro was the medium and the messenger. However far away the woman might be, the Miromiro would fly to her and settle on her head. The charm would begin to work and she would be unable to resist its power, being gently propelled back to him.

Erring husbands were also called by this device.
Source: nzbirds.com