Circus approximans

Today I made my way up the Southern Scenic Route to my first Fiordland stop in Manapouri, a tiny township beside the lake of the same name and the departure point for cruises of Doubtful Sound. Along the way I came across Rakutu wetlands, a recently restored habitat alongside the once-mighty Waiau River. The ten reconstructed terraced ponds are host to numerous waterfowl, fish, and other wetland species like the fernbird, bringing diversity back to a land drastically altered and depleted by farming and hydroelectric infrastructure upriver.

No new birds for me today, but I did see Pukeko (my first in a while), New Zealand Scaup with ducklings, and Black Swans with fluffy gray cygnets. This raptor is an Australasian Harrier, a self-introduced hawk that is a common sight across much of the countryside, soaring with wings in a v-shape as it hunts for prey. It looks much like an American species, the Turkey Vulture, in the way it flies; it took me several weeks being in NZ to not automatically register the harrier as a vulture when I'd see it cruising through the sky.