<
https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/why-we-need-a-one-cuzzy-approach-to-bird-flu/>
"Heather the tūī sits in her spot on the highest branch in our neighbour’s
garden. Every morning between 7:39 and 7:53, she arrives to survey the block.
Sometimes she won’t appear until after 8:00, which always throws me. Then I
have to remind myself that Heather observes the tohu, not the glowing digits of
a Fitbit.
I think my surprise has something to do with her being wild. She could go
anywhere, but she keeps coming back
here. Sometimes she’ll scritch beneath a
wing. Sometimes the sun is so bright she is just a silhouette. Almost always,
she departs to the south.
I probably shouldn’t have named her — it’s such a proprietary thing to do. And
she may not even be female, tūī being staunchly defiant of external gender
assignment.
The honest-to-god truth is that I didn’t pick her name. I heard it. Clear and
soft like the inhalation of breath:
heather. Probably, it just rhymes with
feather. But now, having looked up the origins of the name, I feel like it’s a
good fit. Heather grows in the rocky moors of Scotland in severe conditions
where other, less hardy plants would succumb. Heather has purple and white
flowers, symbolising beauty and protection. The name is associated with
resilience, strength, independence and endurance — exactly like Heather.
Every few days, I fill up a bowl of sugar water and place it in the garden near
the front window. If Heather catches our other resident tūī, Steve, she’ll have
at him.
It’s this bolshy attitude that I’m relying on to protect Heather from the H5N1
virus, which was found in the lungs of a skua (those big grey seabirds) on
Petone beach two weeks ago. A day earlier, a sick kāhu in Wairarapa had been
euthanised and was later found to have the virus too. Ever since then, I’ve
been obsessively consuming every bit of news I can about this “highly
pathogenic” new strain of bird flu.
Turns out, I might be the only one who wasn’t aware just how long the arrival
of H5N1 to our shores has been anticipated. Virologists, trappers, wildlife
vets, taiao groups, sanctuaries, zoos, predator-free groups, farmers, health
officials and OG backyard bird-lovers all over Aotearoa have been watching with
apprehension as the disease spread like an angry rash across Asia, Africa,
Europe and the Americas.
Until now, Oceania, otherwise known as “the seabird capital of the world”, has
been spared. But our geographic isolation was only ever buying us time."
Via Violet Blue’s
Threat Model - Pandemic Roundup: August 27, 2026
https://www.patreon.com/violetblue/posts/pandemic-roundup-167731131
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
