In Poaka Precinct

Started the day a little later than usual, and then had back to back patients until an earlier than usual finish. A measure of how busy I was, is that the whole time I was at the office, I had less than two mugs of coffee. And only the last refill/reheat was completely drunk. After the last person had gone. No lunch, so the potato crisps with a beer after my beach side jog with camera are very welcome.

I chose to call this part of the mudflats at the southern end of Snells Beach, Poaka Precinct, as this is the only place I see the Pied Stilts, unless my presence and movement has caused them to move away to some nearby rocks. There were six birds there today; last weekend there was not more than five. And the first time I saw them this year there were two. I wonder if it is a family group.

This photo (taken with the Pentax; information for Tsuken), has been cropped to focus on this one bird. The one on which I focussed. I like the colours in the water, and the reflections separated by the rippling incoming tide.

After taking a series of photos of the poaka, I moved on, and got a number of pictures of a couple of Kawaupaka (Little Shags). One (not very clear) photo included a Torea (Variable Oystercatcher) which looked almost the same size. My book says that the kawaupaka is 8 cm taller (56 vs 48), and somewhat more lightly built (700 gm vs 725 gm). So my eyes didn't lie to me.

Further on, and around the point where the local Bovver Boys Torea were congregated, to our beach. Little birdlife. Two men with rods trying to catch some fish from the beach. We had a brief conversation about what they'd caught (one but it got away!), and then the older man asked if I live local and I explained we come up from Auckland. So he asked what I do, and when told indicated to his son that he'd been right. It seems I saw him once some years ago for an insurance assessment. Conversation continued pleasantly as I explained why he has seen me around Snells Beach carrying a camera. Blipfoto helps explain oddities, I find.

I have added a shot of a kawaupaka to my blipfolio.