Ōtautahi / Christchurch Daily Photo

I frequently put apple and butter out for the local birds (along with some bird seed for the seed-eaters). The wax eyes are tiny birds (much smaller than a sparrow) but they are fierce. They don’t always wait patiently for other wax eyes to take their turn at feeding on the apple (even when there is plenty of it to go around). Of course, the birds don’t know when their next feed is, and after the weather we had last week, it really is a matter of life and death.

They can also be quite well behaved birds and share – though a fight can break out at any time.

Love this – beak and face right in there!

I also have a bird feeder with seeds for the sparrows and finches. The sparrows usually play nice with each other but can get aggressive too.