French kissing - Tiritiri Matangi island

The experience of having an  Island virtually to yourself, shared with a small group of interesting  people and amazing New Zealand wildlife is a real privilege.

Sorry to disappoint but these kakariki were not enjoying a moment of passion on the Island but certainly some affection between a parent bird still feeding their young. The young bird mewed as it looked up  to the adult before an exchange of food which resembled stringy chewing gum, we are still uncertain what the food was.

This whitehead was feeding on inkweed

Phytolacca octandra. Unfortunately not a native plant but one from South America.

Its been a very dry summer and the dams were either dry or almost empty. It was good to enjoy beautiful weather for the week and walking the East Coast track several times it was good to see the little indigenous pouwhiwhi, Ipomoea cairica in flower above Fisherman's bay. This is one of my favourite spots on the Island,

We heard and I saw fernbird each day and at two visits to Te Pa point, one for a picnic lunch I was able to watch for a while but couldn't improve on the photos I took on my 2013 visit when I watched one nest building with a feather in its beak.





Kokako seemed silent except for one day when returning from North East bay, I heard them call from somewhere near the Kawarau track.

On  the last day we were rewarded when two at the top of the Wattle track bounced into a mahoe tree and started to rip the leaves and dry seeds to bits.


Many thanks Mary-Ann, I will certainly consider guiding when I have more free time.


Photo Gallery at http://creativemomentsimages.co.nz/library/tiriApril2014/

Fishy Business

I just love a project and when a friend mentioned a fish survey that she was working on I was pleased to be there to help with carrying the gear.

This seemed a great idea to actually see what food resources were available in the river for feeding birds especially the terns.

It was wet work  not just from being in the river and crossing the river but from the occasional showers driven by a cooling Westerly moving to Southerly breeze. It was also a lot of fun as usual.

I was interested to photograph what was caught as an aid to identification..

The sea-horse like creature caught on one of the sweeps was just fascinating and we are still trying to get an accurate ID of that.


                               



Thanks to Tom Trinski at Auckland Museum we have the following 'pipefish is in the genus Stigmatopora and is likely S. nigra'

I'm now making a fish measuring dish to help with accurate measuring and as an aid to photography with a scale included.

 

Mr April.

This is my shot of a juvenile female  bellbird taken on Tiritiri Matangi Island on a visit during 2013 and published as the April entry in the 2014 calendar.

Freefall

Welcome swallows are always fascinating to watch as they cut through the air they are true aerial acrobats.






These birds were photographed at Tuff Crater.

Awhitu Peninsular



Today we were fortunate to have access to McConnell's farm wetland and saltmarsh at Pollock on the Awhitu Peninsular. The site is an area of manuka swampland blending into saltmarsh with a steep cliff on the northern side with native bush.

 Tricia was leading the walk for Bot Soc and it was good to see many familiar faces from different organisations enjoying a warm sunny walk to the foreshore.


Wetlands and Saltmarsh are probably my favourite places to explore and I could have spent all day just exploring the little stream that trickled its way to the sea with red and blue damselfly alighting on the Isolepis prolifera  







 





Amongst many things we learnt today is  that Tmesipteris elongate is the duller of these two and Tmesipteris lanceolata is quite shiny by comparison. This was a challenge for me to show both in one photograph.
















On route to Pollock I revisited the historic kohekoe church, built 1886 and was pleased to see that it was well cared for as there had been some concern when it was up for sale during 2012




Always as good as the first time.

We're back to our three favourite East coast beaches on a stunning Autumn day. After walking through the forest this vista opens up before us. To me its always like visiting for the first time because the scene is always different. Its a dynamic environment. Today the river looks formidable more like a lake to cross.

With an incoming tide and an offshore breeze the waves with champagne spray are spectacular. We find a shallow place to cross to avoid our usual wade and catch sight of this rare, very cautious and shy reef heron. We studied it for two hours as it stalked its prey of small fish by hunching in the shape of a stealth fighter before stabbing its long and powerful beak into the water.


 Very difficult to get close, I did try by crawling  but it was onto me as soon as I raised my camera above the sand dunes. We also saw the familiar pied stilt family still together and dotterels and oystercatchers all finished with breeding for the season.

Later at the second beach  I photographed this long-tailed blue  and copper butterflies, Rauparaha's copper, enjoying a warm sheltered spot in the dunes so we did the same enjoying our picnic lunch nearby.

Dottie at Shakespear Park today

In order to see birds it is necessary to become part of the silence.
                                                     Robert Lynd

Motuora Island

Perfect day for an early crossing to Motuora Island from Sandspit. The sea was like a mill-pond with hardly a breath of wind. We were soon landed and headed up to see the latest imports of Pycroft petrels from Red Mercury Island. We watched these being weighed individually and have their wings measured.

 Then it was time to work in the nursery and later I volunteered for some track clearing. A great day catching up with people and lots of fun. Shame about Sally's shoes, hope she finds another match during beach combing.

Then  headed off to explore the Southern end of the Island for butterflies and insects, always interested to see the pollinators and was rewarded with sightings of a common copper copper and long-tailed blues.  Heaps of whitehead flickering through the mahoe bush.

 Lovely evening up in the hills of the Dome valley and good to meet Fiona and Warwick again. I enjoyed the Thai meal with you Eliane. Hope you catch that stoat before it catches your remaining chicks.

 

State of Mind

I have spent most of this Summer on the East coast exploring and observing wildlife. This is one of my favourite places shared with a good friend. This is where I like to swim to cool off after a day in the sun. Its a walk to get there but always worth it. It doesn't get much better than this. Its a magic spot. Not so much a place more a state of the mind.

Sullivans Bay

Planetarium

We are indeed so fortunate to live on such a wonderful planet.

 With stars in my eyes this evening after looking through the Zeiss telescope at the Auckland Planetarium, I remembered the conversation I had some time ago with my optician when she mixed up my prescription and was fitting various lenses into that contraption that tests your eyes.

 I asked her if she was planning glasses for me  with a prescription so strong that I could look into the night sky and discover a new planet and have it named after me.

 Smiling she replied, "Philip I do not think you will discover a new planet or have it named after you any time soon"

more to follow........

Big Sand Island on the Kaipara

Many thanks Eliane and Gwen for asking me to join the Birding New Zealand post breeding dotterel count today at Big Sand Island. With a couple of thousand godwits and red knots and the largest number of Caspian terns I have ever seen at one site, well over a hundred.

 I love this place and have fond memories of my first visit about a year ago.

It was good to be able to compare the little tern, white fronted tern and a solitary Fairy tern that were all together not too far from where we were observing.

Other birds seen include whimbrel, skua, South island Pied Oystercatcher, three Vocs, Turnstones, banded dotterel and a lone wrybill.





Tinopai Pelican Search

When someone in the team said we were going on a pelican hunt they were asked if we were going to shoot them so we now prefer to call it a pelican search.

So every track to the waters edge at the top of the kaipara to Dargaville was searched for a view of  pelicans Pelicanus conspicillatus along the river side.
Alan E and I eventually tracked down two at Aratapu on the western side of the Dargaville river. They were on an exposed mud bank.
 On the Saturday we drove up from Tinopai where we were all staying and showed the rest of the team where they were but they had moved by then.

 We had to search further on Saturday afternoon and eventually found three that then disappeared, we lost them while we were seeking shade from the sun,  Fortunately we soon  spotted four further up the river on the western side.

The rest of the team caught up and so we all saw this rare vagrant from Australia. Mission accomplished Margi.
And at Tinopai on the beach this lone godwit with a large gathering of South Island pied oystercatchers.

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Que Bola? Happy Birthday El

Great day with Bot Soc on Saddle Island in the Gulf led by Ewen Cameron from the Auckland Museum. Just in the process of identifying some of the plant photos now with Ewen's help. Mike Wilcox has already id'ed the fish as anchovies (Engraulis australis).   More Saddle Island Images

 Good to catch up with friends and good that you could join us and thanks for your fun input Eliane.
 A great evening and dinner too with your friends around you for your birthday. Really enjoyed being part of it. I'm looking forward to that party. I now know just what to wear.