Waiting for the sun

Early morning run along the Coastal Walkway. At Eastern Beach I saw Tarapunga (red-billed gulls) coming in groups to land on a rocky platform alongside where the Te Henui Stream enters the sea. This is slightly elevated above the beach level and tends to be uncovered sooner (or covered later) by the tide. Its a favourite place for the tarapunga.

The Karoro (kelp gulls) tend to gather on the rocks further west, but some do mix with the smaller and whiter tarapunga. Not this morning though.

I went down onto the sand to get a closer shot, and they flew up and away, giving me some interesting photos. With the help of S I chose this one of the relocated tarapunga further east and onto the wet sand. 

I like the reflections, and the colours from the yet to rise sun hitting the clouds and reflecting down onto the sand.

A quiet day, as the weather has obeyed the forecasters and turned windy, cold, and grey. The rain is due tomorrow.  For most of the morning, I worked on producing the final draft of a report and hope to confirm that before I leave here on Friday.