I am half way through an excellent book about the Eastern Curlew by an Australian writer Harry Saddler. This delightful book has kindly been loaned to me by Claire Stevens.
Today I am at Miranda helping with a working bee around the Pukorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre, I'm into the weeding to help the planted coastal saltmarsh ribbonwood to be able to thrive. Fortunately there was time just before high tide to slip away to the bird hides nearby at the Findlay Reserve.
Thousands of the endemic ( found only in New Zealand) wrybill delight while they frantically feed from the mud in a rhythmic motion scraping their right turned beaks across the surface biofilm. They are sifting the nutriments that they require for their late August migration back to the braided rivers of the South Island to breed..
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| High percentage of total wrybill World population visit Miranda |
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| Wrybill-a unique bird with a bent to the right beak. |
Juvenile godwits are also seen, birds that have not made the epic flight to Alaska this season. There are however three much larger uncommon migrant wader birds to be seen and these are the rare and now endangered Eastern Curlew feeding on the mudflats straight out in front of the Godwit hide.
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| Eastern curlew towers over four wrybill. |
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| Three in a Row -Far Eastern Curlew. |
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| Bar-tailed godwit with larger Eastern Curlew behind |
This amazing day finished with an excellent Potluck dinner at the centre followed by two films one still at the editing stage about the extraordinary and exciting PGP ( Pacific Golden Plover Project) which has been co-ordinated by Jim Eagles at the Pukorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre..
