One of the joys of visiting Waiheke is the variety and abundance
of native birds. We went out to Whakanewha Regional Park to see what we could
see.
It’s nesting season for tuturiwhatu (New Zealand
dotterels) at the moment. They build open nests directly on the shore, and rely
on the cryptic coloration of themselves, their eggs and their chicks to avoid
detection and predation. Unfortunately, this leaves them vulnerable to being
predated by mammals such as rats and cats, and also to having their eggs
stepped on by people who don’t see them. DOC have taped off some areas where
there are nests so we couldn’t get on to all areas of the beach, but we were
able to see some further up the beach, along with a pair of torea pango (variable
oystercatcher) with a chick.
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| New Zealand dotterel |
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| Variable oystercatcher and chick |
We then went for a walk around Lua loop, where we heard
plenty of tui, piwakaka and riroriro without actually seeing much. Still, it’s
nice to know they’re there.
Finally, we walked along Dottie’s Lane for a bit, again
in the hope of spotting some bird life – in particular, mioweka (banded rail)
which we had seen along there before – but only(!) saw more dotterels and
oystercatchers, and a pair of eastern rosellas. It’s notable that the variable oystercatchers show much more
variation that the ones we see down in Wellington, most of which are black all
over. I guess that’s why they call them variable!
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