As the light was fading

Spent the morning preparing the apartment for the weekend open home. Then we headed north. Today has been a “rostered day off”. My contract is for nine days a fortnight, rather than 4.5 days a week. 

Late in the afternoon, as the tide was not quite starting to flow in, I walked on the mudflats at Southend of Snells Beach. Heron were the main feeders, with a few kuaka (godwits), and one tuturiwhatu (dotterel). Ducks and gulls quacked and scolded as they went away. A solitary caspian tern and a single kawau parka (little shag) were also there. As was a kotare (kingfisher). 

Of them all this heron was my favourite photobirds, heron