That time of the Year again

Each August I check the dotterel signage and replace, if necessary. It's hung on a taped fence across a vulnerable shell bank.

 

 August to March is the breeding season of some of our local shorebird species including the New Zealand dotterel, variable oystercatcher and pied stilt. Banded rail also breeds at this time. 

 There is clear 'No Dog' signage but that doesn't always deter people bringing their dogs to this sensitive wildlife area. A second line of defence was required and this little taped fence & sign seems to do the trick.

There are always additional things to see when visiting the estuary. This time a rather splendid jellyfish washed up by the high tide. Just checking the identification. It's about 50cm across.  It could be a   Lions Maine (Cyanea rosea). I do hope another high tide will take it back to the ocean.

Rainbows & Rainfall

 We should be used to that by now this year but today we also had sunshine and so it was good to be out and about. 

The Mahurangi Regional reserve was very quiet considering it is a school holiday. This allowed 46 Variable oystercatcher and one South Island pied oyster catcher to roost undisturbed on the beach. Three NZ dotterel each standing on one leg were joined by 8 mallard ducks while out to sea 7 gannets were diving at great speed. from quite a height to catch their food.

Variable Oystercatcher Roosting (resting) on the beach at high tide.

Patuone Planting

And it wasn't raining! which was a real bonus this morning for a small group of volunteers helping to plant the new upgraded walkway through the Patuone Reserve. This was organised by Dan Marrow from Auckland Parks and Tabitha from the Pupuke birdsong project.

Some of the grasses planted will help filter the rainwater from the nearby Barrys point road and business area helping to keep the water clean that flows into Shoal estuary before flowing on to the Hauraki Gulf.

One of the children spotted a skink so that was exciting but by the look of the single cell on its head it appears that this is the invasive rainbow skink that is regarded as a pest because it breeds so fast and risks taking over habits of our native species. I have often seen rainbow skinks in this reserve on sunny summer days when they enjoy basking in the warmth at the edge of pathways.

A small group of volunteers have been helping with predator control in this reserve to protect banded rail and other bird species in the mangroves. We were pleased to hear recently that during regular monitoring by Council their contractors found no signs of rats our target species. 

However, we know that it's only a matter of time before the rats will reinvade, so this has to be an ongoing project.  

HIGHPOINT

 The Highpoint of todays visit to Tawharanui was meeting up with Joel & Nichole who's company Highpoint Conservation Services are now in pursuit of Batwing passionfruit flower.

I first met Joel in 2016 when his company Highpoint was contracted by Auckland Council to set up a pest control line around Shoal and Ngataringa estuaries. This is the bait line that eight years later we are still monitoring and bait pulsing four times a year.

Joel was very helpful to our new group of keen local people at the time who planned to regularly keep these lines going.

Joel & Nichole are experienced rope access operators that means they can take on challenging projects on the Hauraki Islands removing pest plants from cliff top sites.

More to follow.

In Search of Sunshine.

Rain, rain, rain, that's all we have seen for some weeks now. Heading North in search of sunshine. 

And that's exactly what we have found. Sunny days to enjoy Russell again. It's always fun to watch the weka creeping up on unsuspecting tourist at the camp site. I love their calls at night which seem to echo across the valley.

 Good to enjoy a night out in the town with a good meal as we watched the sun go down. I always enjoy a walk around the historic church especially when the sun is shining. 

Russell Church.

Kawakawa is always worth a visit too. This little town is across from Russell using the Opua vehicle ferry is 

famous for the Hundertwasser designed toilets and now has a small gallery in remembrance of this well-known artist.

 On heading South, we would also visit the new Hundertwasser gallery at Whangarei.

Hundertwasser gallery at Whangarei

Then South to Ruakaka to enjoy the estuary. The lighting was spectacular for the sunrise. The sunset even better to watch the birds making the most of the low tide to feed.

NZ Dotterel in breeding plumage

Leigh was our next stop at the little campsite at Leigh Central a short hp then to be at the Goat Island Marine Reserve for a Botanical walk (BoT SoC) on the Leigh walkway.

Auckland Botanical Society overlooking Goat Island

 

Devil's Fingers (Anthurus archer)

Weta

Three Islands

 Thats three islands in one photo. The little island to the right is little egg island, the next is Te Haupa/ Saddle Island and the third is Motuora Island. This is the view from above Otarawao Bay

I have never quite timed the tide correctly to get onto little egg island. I have been out on   Saddle Island with the Auckland Botanical people.  Motuora island I have really enjoyed on many occasions helping with their restoration work although I haven't made it for a while due to clashes with other activities. 

Today however was just a trek over the hill from Otarawao ( Sullivans Bay) to the Te Muri stream. It's a delightful walk and definitely a favorite of mine.

Black - tailed godwit & a whiskered tern

 Good to join the Miranda team yesterday for their AGM followed by some high tide birding. At last a clear view of a lone black-tailed godwit on the mud flats amongst many, pied stilt, with knots and other remaining bar-tailed godwit that have not left to breed in Alaska.

 The whiskered tern was a first for me although it was tricky lining up the scope as it flicked around the stilt ponds which due to a larger than normal amount of water has attracted more ducks & swans than usual including over 20 dabchicks which is very unusual to have so many recorded here. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see them today.

Dotterel Forum 2023

 This was the ninth. Dotterel Forum. This time held at Ambury Regional Reserve. Covid rather put the last on hold. My first was in 2016 when I was invited to speak about our work around Shoal estuary to protect this species. It's always interesting to hear what others are doing to help these birds and protect their habitat. 

Today I learnt about another way to use nest shelters to keep black backed gulls and hawks from raiding the nests and killing chicks and destroying eggs. Our shelters are tall, but Cam at the Crest group had shown a much lower shelter covering a nest that effectively stopped a black backed gull from getting to the eggs from above and it certainly wasn't keen to stoop underneath either. Cams excellent video showed that to good effect.

We use a denser smaller netting that also has the additional benefit of breaking up the nest pattern to foil over flying harriers.

Shaun discusses data collection and habitat information.

Not Long Now

 Our Godwit flock will soon have all left our local estuaries heading first to China and then to Alaska to breed. They have spent our summer although not a very good one resting up and feeding to avoid more severe climate of Alaska This morning just after high tide I counted 54 remaining, and they were rather agitated on a windy and rather cool morning due to the brisk southerly. They joined a flock of over 200 pied stilts resting up on the shell banks.

 

Waiwera & Wenderholm.

The dotterel Minder signage at Waiwera outlines a disastrous season so far due mainly to extreme high tides.

Plenty of birds at the Waiwera high tide roost site at the Northern end of the beach including-

 147 x SIPOS, 

23 x VOC's, 

249 x white fronted terns 

4 x NZ dotterels. 

There was also an additional Variable Oystercatcher (VOC) pair with a juvenile.

Dotterel Success Year Beginning 2023

 I have posted before about the lack of success and unwelcome interference of nests at Mahurangi Regional Reserve. Today we see some good news that a dotterel has survived from egg to chick and has now fledged (able to fly). This is great news and the first for the Reserve in 10 years. 

We have also had similar success at Shoal estuary with one chick fledged. Each year the NZ dotterel struggle with high tides and eggs and chicks being taken by hawks during their summer nesting time..

This is a great beginning to 2023 for local wildlife.

YEAR END 2022

Good to feel that things have returned to near normal after the pandemic disruption of the last couple of years. For many of us this was nothing more than inconvenient. I hate to think how we would have coped if a full-scale war was on our doorstep as in Ukraine...

Protection of the environment continues to be a challenge with the onslaught of poorly planned development in and around Auckland. Trees have been decimated and at every turn the powers that be resist discussing any meaningful tree protection. Unfortunately, trees get in the way of unbridled development and development rules in Auckland!

2023 will be a continual concern from those that care and have a vision of reducing our war with Nature and following the Science that has shown that if we protect our environment, it will protect us.

A Happy New Year to All.

 

AT LAST!

 The 'powers that be' have finally woken up to the fact that inconsistent signage since 2013 has not helped keep dogs off a designated 'SEA Marine 1' Chenier shell bank in Shoal (Oneoneroa) estuary. This habitat is important to ground nesting and roosting shorebirds.

Frustrated by this inaction of 'duty of care' & constant sign changes I sent Council staff a pdf of photos and dates of all variations of signs that I had recorded at this edge of Shoal estuary since 2013. I asked why the clearest 'No Dogs' signage was removed in March 2020 only four months after it was installed following Council asking me what sign should be used. It was then replaced with yet another ambiguous sign. Signage should clearly reflect the 2012 (amended 2015) dog bylaw.

Good to see that quite recently these three newly designed signs have appeared.  We are hoping that now there is no excuse for dogs being taken on the shell banks at this location.

Now Three NO DOGS signs.

Clear & concise signage is essential.

The next challenge is to get these new signs into other sensitive habitat sites at Shoal and Ngataringa estuary.  How long will that take????

Northland Coastal Escape

First to  Ruakaka for a couple of nights to enjoy the estuary and wildlife reserve. Eleven Royal spoonbill feeding at the estuary edge. Later in the afternoon as the tide came in at least one hundred gannets plummeting out of the sky almost colliding as they go after shoals of fish. 

Little shags roost in a favoured tree between fishing expeditions and the tides.

It was fun watching this young Welcome Swallow eagerly waiting to be fed. Its parents were away for some times more than 15 minutes searching for food to bring back to the young one's perch point on an old fence post. 

Then further North on to my happy space for more nights, more walks and swims in this secluded beautiful bay with back hills and bush to explore.

.

In Pursuit of Champions

 'In pursuit of champions' is the latest publication by Keith Woodley about the story of the Pukorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre.

It was great to hear Keith narrate the early beginnings of the Centre and hear about some of the characters and people who campaigned for the Centre to be built. 

I enjoyed catching up with a variety of people today some of which I haven't seen for a while especially with the disruptions of the Covid 19 lockdowns during 2020 and 2021.

This is another excellent book by Keith. I'm more than halfway through and enjoying every minute of it. The interwoven story of the tidal dependent shorebirds and the progression of development of the Shorebird Centre is a compelling story and Keith adds some darn good yarns about the people involved too.

Welcome to the Godwits!

 Great support today for our Godwit event at Sandy Bay Road.

Each year during September the bar-tailed godwit return to New Zealand from their breeding grounds in Northern Alaska a near 12,000 km nonstop flight. We are fortunate to have over 200 birds that choose Shoal and Ngataringa estuaries to stay during our summer months enjoying the estuary food of worms and crustaceans, before they are ready to leave the following March. Then they complete the cycle by returning to Alaska via a stopover in China to feed up to prepare again for breeding in Alaska. A round trip of nearly 30,000 kms.

Heading South

 Heading South after viewing the beautiful gardens at Hamilton. Then to Cambridge staying in a well laid out campsite where the trees mostly nonnative look magnificent. So good to see tall, large trees. In Auckland our trees are being cut down due to rampant uncontrolled development. Trees in Cambridge town appear well cared for and those in the surrounding countryside too.

 Volunteers desperately plant new trees in public reserves around Auckland but it's the loss on private properties that is the real worry. Development rules and trees have no protection in Auckland as they get in the way of intensive development. This is a third World approach to trees that should be saved as mitigation for increasing issues with climate disruption. Trees should be part of development projects. We have lost so many large trees in the city.

Then to Waitomo and an afternoon drive out to the wild coast to visit Marokopa a small Maori settlement that I last visited maybe 15 years ago. It hasn't changed but I had forgotten what a windy road it was to get there. This time we didn't cut through to New Plymouth but stayed the night at Waitomo before heading there the following day.

More to follow.

The Godwits are back

 Fresh from their 11000-kilometer direct flight from Alaska the godwit numbers have built up during the last few weeks to 183. On the 15th of October during 2020 we counted 181 so that's a very consistent number to have returned.

 We also have a special research bird that was tagged up with coloured flags in China in April 2020 on route North via Chinea to Alaska to breed. This will be the third yearly visit I have watched this godwit. in Shoal and Ngataringa estuary.

Today the conditions were good this morning for an 8.24 am 3.3 metre  High Tide and so the birds were roosting on a small shell bank with variable oystercatchers, South Island pied oystercatcher's, NZ dotterel and pied stilt.

Takangariki Island

Takangariki Island better known as Rabbit Island is on route to kawau island from Sandspit.

It's a beautiful privately owned island of just over two hectares with its own jetty.

Today I am here with a group from the Auckland Botanical society who intend to survey the botanical interest of the island. I'm here because I love the Islands of the Hauraki Gulf.

Jutland Reserve water testing.

While out this morning checking a bait line at Shoal estuary it was a chance to meet up with teachers and students from Hauraki school. With the help of very informative Auckland Councils sustainable schools' staff and the RTH team they were busy learning about water quality and how to test some of the ephemeral streams that flow into shoal estuary mainly after heavy rain. 

It was disturbing to hear that they originally were to test a stream at Northboro Reserve, but the water quality was not deemed safe enough for the students to be involved.

This is indicative of the sad state of the quality of the water that enters through poorly maintained outfall pipes into our local estuaries. This all adds to degradation of water quality in the Hauraki Gulf.

Patuone Southern Boardwalk

 The rather contentious building of the Patuone Southern board walk is well underway. This is stage 2 of the Patuone Reserve walkway upgrade long overdue but now widened considerably to accommodate future use by  cycles and evehicles.

This structure intrudes into the Special Ecological Area (SEA)  which is designated as  Marine 2 on the Auckland Unitary Plan.

 This area is the known habitat of the DOC classified as AT Risk banded rail. A cryptic species now totally dependent on mangrove filled estuaries North of Auckland apart from one or two other sites in NZ including Nelson. The mangroves allow the banded rail to move around the estuary discretely protecting them from aerial predation. Rats and cats are also a risk for this species so since 2017 we have been monitoring a bait line in this area..

Yesterday with the help from volunteers from  Oceanbridge  we  planted more trees supplied by the Kaipatiki project nursery to improve the biodiversity of this reserve. A big thanks to Dan Marrow from Auckland Council who organised the event..

On The Wire

 During the last couple of weeks we have seen a plump healthy looking kereru on the powerlines in our street and at the Northboro Road entrance to Northboro reserve today. This is a little unusual as kereru have traditionally been more often seen on the seaward side of Lake road.

Except for a couple of times in past years when they ventured across our street or stopped briefly on a powerline http://creativemomentsimagesblog.blogspot.com/search?q=kereru they just are not seen .

 Hopefully this is going to be a more common event. I have always put the reason down to a lack of sightings to not enough  attractive food plants nearby. This cannot have changed in such a short space of time. 

Transmitter Track

Shamrock Pea found on Transmitter track in the Waitakeri Ranges during a Bot Soc walk, 

More photos to follow..................

Northwards

First stop Ruakaka . A small group of godwits about 30 at the estuary edge feeding with pied stilt. The usual NZ dotterel and banded dotterel feeding as the tide recedes.

Disturbed three spoonbill and a white faced heron perched in the trees along the estuary edge.

Now at Russell. Morepork calling each evening and through the night. Disturbed one after dark that screeched from its perch place in a garden tree.

Weka scurry about the campsite trying to get into vehicles in the morning.

Have just driven into Paparoa. Will stay the night and then join the BOT Soc survey walk along the Paparoa walkway. The temperature has dropped along with some squally showers but we are well rugged up to cope.

Photos to follow........................

Coromandel return to Colville

 Headed down the Miranda coast. Thousands of bar-tailed godwits and knots ready for their migration North. Some may already have left heading for China first and then to Alaska to breed.

 Good numbers of wrybill have arrived from the South Island and have settled in the arid dry stilt ponds at high tide. A small group were feeding along  the Kauai coast. including this metal banded bird..

 Then via Thames and driving North  up the Thames coastline to Coromandel town. Stayed at the little campsite on an estuary nearby. Then on to Colville passing some historic little settlements. 

We are soon on gravel roads with Mt Moehau ahead. We turn inland and cross a small hill range via a windy gravel road and soon drive past a vast wetland before the DOC campsite at Waikawau bay.

This is a beautiful location to stop for some days to explore. The beach is stunning and is 3.5kms long. It has a backdrop of some huge sand dunes.  The beach has to walked each day to reach a high tide roost site at the Northern river end. This roost attracts  white fronted terns, NZ dotterel, banded dotterel, & Caspian tern.  Five pairs of variable oyster catcher are spaced out along the 3.5 km beach but only one pair have a single juvenile bird with them and they are at the Northern end.

There are plenty of other walks including one at the southern end of the beach with fine views down the full length of the beach and with Mt. Moehau in the far distance. At the southern end and running into the campground is a smaller river and  wetland.. 

We hear the call of kiwi early evening shortly after dusk and a morepork throughout each night in the distance. With no wi-fi signal this is heaven. Such a peaceful place.

More to follow.