Godwit dawn

A lovely night out with S, her brother and his partner, and her cousin and his wife, to celebrate said cousin's birthday. Stayed up a bit late reading, and so waking for another Sunday Sunrise was a bit of an effort. Leaving in the chill of a spring morning with a wind from the south was more so. The appeal of the colours in the sky a half hour before sunrise encouraged me.

As I neared the northern end of Snells Beach at Whisper Cove, I saw a mass of birds wheeling in formation while flying low and fast. I quickly got a photo of them landing, as I wasn't sure they would stay, and although I thought I knew what they were I need to get a lot closer, still being somewhat short sighted.

The closer I got, the more excited I was as I recognised the body shape, and identification was confirmed when I saw the long beak, upturned at the end. The kuaka are back. The Bar-tailed Godwit comes to New Zealand from Alaska every New Zealand Spring (northern Autumn) after one of the longest non stop flights of any non-sea bird.

I approached to within about 30 m without causing any panic amongst the birds, and proceeded to take photos as the sky behind them showed the changes of the coming sunrise. The initially grey sky was transformed to this fabulous gold as I watched and admired.

Although about two thirds of the flock had flown off to the other side of Kawau Bay only a few minutes after I arrived, this group remained here until just before the sun was able to be seen above the lower cloud band. They then left in increasing numbers.

I have put a photo of their departure into my blipfolio, and also there is an enlarged picture of one of the kuaka, which has had a bit of adjustment to exposure and such like to bring it out of the shadows.

ADDITIONAL
S' cousin invited us around to the recently purchased currently being renovated home at the other end of the village. To see and photograph the kereru (wood pigeon) which were feeding in one of their trees last night, and he confidently expected them back tonight. I did see all five that he reported seeing. One in particular posed for the camera.