Karepiro Beach from the overland track
What a spectacular run of late winter weather we’ve been having – if it weren’t for the biting southeasterly you’d think spring had arrived. Not quite, and there’s still a winter stillness about, but a feeling of anticipation permeates the ether. As I walked in from Stillwater I marvelled at the growth of some recent plantings and noticed that the riroriro were starting
Haven’t they grown!
to sing again – not that cascade of tinkling notes that always reminds me of a sonic waterfall but a prelude, jut brief snatches, a warming of the vocal chords in preparation for the coming breeding season. Not that birds have vocal chords, strictly speaking, but a syrinx, which is a bit different. Many riroriro/grey warbler breed early, thereby escaping being parasitised by the shining cuckoo that doesn’t arrive in numbers from the Melanesia until later. I await the flowering of the kowhai as the sign that winter is finally giving way to spring.
I saw a couple of spoonbills/ kōtuku ngutupapa roosting at Weiti and six more at Okura. They’ve been roosting in the housing development at Karepiro for the past three or four years, but seem to have decided on a temporary change of scenery. These magnificent large white birds are getting more and more common, and while they don’t breed locally it’s surely only a matter of time before they do so.
Okura estuary looking south with hungry pied oystercatchers feeding in the shallows and variable oystercatches in the foreground
The tōrea/pied oystercatcher flock is split between Weiti and the Karepiro and is perhaps half the number now, with the rest having moved south in preparation for breeding. The tōrea pango/variable oystercatchers are still roosting together, but seem to be hanging out in pairs within the flock. The tūturiwhatu/ NZ dotterel males are starting to colour up and are looking very smart, but haven’t yet seriously staked out their breeding territories and only occasionally squabble with their neighbours. The poaka/pied stilts are still present, though numbers are decreasing as birds pair off and establish breeding territories. Like the riroriro, this species is an early breeder. So all-in-all the signs are there that winter’s grip is loosening and that Spring will be with us soon.
Okura estuary looking east to the Hauraki Gulf