Beach House Hideaway

We are staying for a week at a secluded beach house on the Mangawhai coast. Its great place with the added bonus that it looks over the Fairy tern nesting area on the Mangawhai spit. Thanks to a friend I soon recognised a Fairy tern call and two flew over me heading West.

Its a great place for looking down on the Fairy tern as they feed below diving for fish in the Mangawhai estuary.

 I managed to get some shots of the birds as they flew past after feeding. Its been a poor   nesting period due to the very high winds that scattered chicks and caused birds to abandon nests.

 I decided to keep away from any remaining nesting sites and opted for a trek up to Te Arai point This was successful and a great walk on white sand with beautiful waves crashing onto the beach.

 I was able to photograph two birds preening themselves near a little group of White fronted terns.

Returning today I watched another younger bird preening itself. They are all banded so should be able to get their history.

 This was the very area that I had taken part in an NZ dotterel count during 2013 with Gwen and Eliane.




We have just had another swim and next it's a BBQ and then a soak  in the hot tub on the deck  to gaze at the stars.

This is a fabulous place.