A beautiful morning to drop into the Pukorokoro, Robert Findlay wildlife reserve to check out the over 6000 bar-tailed godwit (kuaka) that are resident there at the present time. We have just over 200 as our share of this migratory species in our local estuaries at Shoal and Ngataringa so it's a great opportunity to see this much larger flock at the Pukorokoro reserve.
I have chosen well; the tide is good for approximately a 10.30 am high tide and the reserve is very quiet. Its just a week proceeding Christmas day so very few people are around which is just how I like to experience this wonderful habitat. But first I called into to the nearby Shorebird Centre to check with Keith on the latest news and birds likely to be seen.
Back at the hides it was good to catch up with Hera one of the Kaitiaki Rangers who had set up her scope at the stilt pond hide where most of the 6000 bar-tailed godwit were quietly roosting (resting).
Also, a scattering of some of the birds we see at Shoal estuary -South Island pied oystercatcher and Caspian tern. I was pleased to also see just a small group of wrybill remaining. This wonderful shorebird, one of my favourites with its bent to the right bill. Our local wrybill have left our estuary to migrate to the South Island to breed before returning next year to avoid the South Island winter.
