A couple months ago, I was sitting on the couch, looking out over our beautiful view, and I noticed something brown and tan out on the deck. I first assumed it was a leaf, but immediately ruled that out, as the enthusiastic wind does not allow such things to rest on our deck. Actually, the more I looked at it, the more I thought it looked like a small toy giraffe. I ruled this out as well, because our deck is about 12-15 feet off the ground (depending on the side) and there is no way a toy could have ended up on it. (I know how inaccessible it is, having unsuccessfully tried every possible way of getting onto it one time when I locked myself out of the house). I then decided it must be a seashell from my hanging seashell display outside. I was contented with this for about two minutes, but couldn't get over how much it looked like a giraffe, so I actually got up off the couch (despite being very cozy and comfortable) and went out to get it.
It was a little toy giraffe.
The only explanation I could think of was that one of the neighbour children threw it onto our deck from their deck, which is about 10 feet away (being on the other half of our duplex). I still found this highly improbable, but it was the clear winner over spontaneous generation, which was my second-best hypothesis.
I therefore went over to the neighbours' house, knocked on the door, and awkwardly asked them if they'd thrown this adorable little giraffe onto our deck. After an impressively short pause for them to wrap their heads around this, everyone in the house confirmed that they'd never seen it before. They agreed that it was fairly impossible that it had ended up on our deck. Then the mom had a crazy and awesome hypothesis: there are Kaka (native NZ parrots) living in the mountain bike park next to our house, and one of them could have dropped it there. Kaka are very mischievous and love to steal things, so one picking one up just for the fun of it would not be out of the question. Still... really? A Kaka dropped a giraffe on our deck?
Given the lack of other options, J and I dubiously accepted this one, and I have smiled at the mystery every time I've walked by the little giraffe, which has joined other adorable oddities on my bookshelf.
Then yesterday, I was sitting on the couch reading, and I look up to see...
... a Kaka! On our deck!
(Sorry for the non-zoomed in picture. I didn't want to scare it away by getting up to get my camera, so I used my phone.)
I called for J, who came out in time to see it. The Kaka obviously heard me, because it whipped its head around and looked at me, but didn't fly away. We got to watch it for a few minutes before it flew away, and it was very exciting.
The giraffe and I have decided to believe that it was that Kaka who brought it to our deck. I hope it comes to visit again!
If you'd like to read more about Kaka, please see my post from our visit to Zealandia here and scroll down to the part about Kaka.
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