I’ve decided to stop counting the birds at Weiti, Karepiro, and Okura because I want a more subjective experience on my walks rather than being more analytical about things. The results of the past five years breeding of tūturiwhatu/NZ dotterel and tōrea pango/variable oystercatchers can be found at https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Shortnote_Michaux_722_125-127.pdf
I will still update you all on what’s going on in the avian world, but more in the form of a diary entry.
It’s hard to believe this is winter, we haven’t even come close to a fire yet, but the birds certainly know it is. The godwit flock, which reached an all-time record of 297 birds in November and averaged about 200 this past season, has departed – apart from 20 birds that will overwinter here rather than breeding up in Alaska. The tōrea/South Island pied oystercatchers are back in their usual numbers (300+) and making use of the wet grasslands in the Weiti development as well as the feeding on the mudflats. I was out with a school party on our annual infauna survey of the mudflats last week (more experiential than experimental) and was impressed with the number of juvenile cockles and Macomona liliana/hanikura we found in the quadrats. The pied stilt/poaka are starting to form small winter flocks at all three sites, but the number of tõrea pango gathering is still quite modest. Jeremy from Weiti reported over 30 tūturiwhatu roosting in the Weiti development at one point. Lastly, and a sure sign of winter, the spoonbills/kōtuku ngutupapa are back and seen opposite the Okura sandspit. Last year ten regularly roosted in the Weiti development. I think that maybe it has’t been cold enough yet to force them northwards.
And just to give you a reminder of warmer times and something to look forward to at the end of the year – it was agreat year for pohutukawa blossom!
A reminder of summers past