A quick preen before sleep

Another busy day, which extended beyond the half day. And then I had some personal admin tasks, and it ended up being close to 5 pm before I left for some exercise. As we had decided to get a take away meal this evening, I combined the two; drove to the restaurant and ordered the food for 6 pm and then went to the northern end of the beach for a walk with my camera. I had been there no more than a couple of minutes, when I saw the Snells Beach flock of Kuaka flying over.

They did two full circuits followed by a lower altitude half circuit and then landed in a rush. With no collisions that I saw. I've posted, as an extra, the Kuaka flock against the trees on the cliff face. With as much perseverance and accuracy as I could muster this evening, I counted the birds in two different shots. And each time I counted more than a hundred. Perhaps even as many as 150.

The Kuaka which I have blipped, was drawing up water in between preening vigorously. Most of the others on this sand bank were already standing on one leg and tucking the heads under their wings. There were also Tuturiwhatu running on the beach. Hopefully, they are mating and nesting.