Miraz Jordan

I've been expecting the White-faced Heron babies to launch themselves from the tree any minute, but zooming in, I can see there's still a bit of fluff on the top of the head. The parents are leaving the babies alone for longer and longer now. 🐦

Yesterday while chatting outside in full sun with our landscape designer I noticed the ground beside me kind of shimmering. I looked up to see a very large flock of birds (perhaps godwits?) flying directly overhead, casting shimmering shadows.

That was delightfully, splendidly weird! 🐦

Through a window on a dreary morning, but although I often hear the pheasant, today I actually saw it. 🐦

Less than 10 metres from me : adult heron grooming. 🐦

Another chick at the river mouth the other day — this time a dotterel. These birds are so hard to see: follow the post at mid-top down to the bottom third of the photo to see the chick. Its parent is on guard nearby. Oystercatcher in the background. 🐦

At the river mouth the other morning I spotted this Oystercatcher with two tiny chicks. 🐦

Those white-faced heron chicks are getting quite big. The parents seem to leave them alone a bit more now. 🐦

Before driving home we made a quick visit to Haruru Falls, just outside Paihia. The chickies by the entrance were cute. 🐦

The falls were lovely.

So pleased I thought to grab a (shaky) video of an adult white-faced heron feeding two chicks in the nest close to our house. 🐦

No sound — they were too far away for that.

A few times recently I've heard a Ruru | Morepork in the nearby trees. 🐦

Before dawn it carried on hooting for ages, allowing me to get this audio file. I used Fission to amplify the sound so there's quite a bit of background noise. There are also occasional frog croaks if you listen carefully.

Baby white-faced heron is growing and developing the white face. 🐦

Extreme zoom and crop.

A couple of days ago "our" white-faced heron chick looked like this. 🐦

Our white-faced heron neighbours have finally hatched one or more chicks! These photos are with a 100-400 zoom on a Fuji X-T5, then heavily cropped. 🐦

Baby Magpie is becoming more visible. 🐦

We enjoyed a few minutes walking by the Whangārei marina, spotting this tree covered in butterflies.

We also saw a Spotted dove 🐦 :

A native of south and south-east Asia, the spotted dove was introduced to New Zealand in the 1920s, when some were released from captivity in Mt Eden, Auckland. …

The spotted dove is a medium-sized, somewhat long-tailed dove with a greyish head, pink-grey underparts, and speckled greyish brown upperparts. Its distinguishing feature is a large white-spotted black half-collar around the back and sides of the neck.

This strawberry is pretty much the first fruit of our food forest. Yum.

I'm really surprised "our" magpie hasn't scoffed it. Too busy chasing off "our" white-faced heron I guess. 🐦

I've been monitoring a magpie nest high in a nearby tree for a while now and I believe there are new chicks up there. I saw 2 adults leave the nest, but there was still movement. I'm pretty sure I could see a chick's head. 🐦

Mallard ducks on the Dune Lake. 🐦

A flash of very vivid blue caught my eye across the river — it turned out to be a Kōtare | Sacred Kingfisher. It's barely visible in the two photos below, flying at centre right. 🐦

Meanwhile a Matuku moana | White-faced heron took flight.

On our train ride up by Kawakawa the other day we spotted this Kawaupaka | Little shag in trees by the line: 🐦

the little shag’s diagnostic short-billed and long-tailed silhouette, along with its small size and stubby yellow bill. Shape alone is sufficient to identify a little shag.

At least, I think that's what this bird is. It was quite little and has a stubby yellow bill.

On yesterday's vintage train ride out of Kawakawa we had to stop for a few minutes for staff to open huge gates that blocked access to a bridge.

I was interested by the sign cautioning people, especially cyclists on this part of the Twin Coast Cycle Trail, to watch out during nesting season for swooping magpies. 🐦

Warning Swooping Magpies (nesting season)
Dismount & walk.
Move quickly through the area - Don't run.
Protect your head & face.
Wear sunglasses.

Several flights of Kuaka | Godwits flew north while I was hanging out at the Dune Lake. One lot flew right over me, and so low I could hear the whirring of their wings. It was magical. 🐦

Photos from a different group.

Paradise Ducks would be a great alarm system — they spot you from miles away and don't stop squawking till you leave.

These were down at the river mouth yesterday. 🐦

Today we drove south slightly to look at Langs Beach, about 3 Km south of Waipū Cove.

Then we drove a tad further to Mangawhai Heads and Mangawhai, all rather built up.

The sandspit is home to the extremely endangered Tara iti | Fairy tern. 🐦

The relict population of fewer than a dozen pairs survives between Whangarei in the north and Auckland to the south. The tiny population is gravely threatened by introduced predators and disturbance or encroachment by humans. They are intensively managed during the breeding season.

This pukeko was hurrying by with a tasty morsel. 🐦