For two months I've been working intensively on this bird's place in myth and legends from all over the world - and then... they appear as if in story, and weave a nest of grasses in our garden. Their eggs are tiny and mottled brown. Some scientists believe there are only a few hundred left in the Hawaiian islands. Yesterday was the first time they were relaxed enough to let me stay close enough to video them. The male appears first, then he is joined by the female, he is the closest to the camera as she preens him. They move into the water to feed and he is then on the far side.
The harp being played is an individual instrument, probably the elderly harp maker's final harp, made in Ireland from a piece of bog oak, submerged in peat for thousands of years and strung with metal..
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pnlqNTdT1ck/mqdefault.jpg)