The birds are getting very active here at Te Rakau with warmer weather and longer days stimulating breeding behaviour. I heard my first shining cuckoo call on Friday September 30 so the little grey warblers will be exceptionally busy if they end up rearing cuckoo chicks that are much bigger than themselves. In fact these industrious little birds have probably already reared a clutch of their own chicks before the cuckoos invade their nests as a safety mechanism to ensure their own future.

Shining Cuckoo

On Onoke Spit the Caspian Terns are starting to group up and begin the ritual of fishing for their mates – a kind of bird foreplay! We are keeping a much closer watch on their nesting site and have upped the number of traps along the spit to give them a better chance of rearing chicks successfully this year. Let’s hope that humans and their dogs play their part too and leave the birds in peace for the breeding season which can go well into January.

Caspian Terns and chick

Last weekend we hosted John and Gail Cheyne from Lake Hatuma in Central Hawks Bay. John is and ex NZ Wild Life officer and extremely knowledgeable about our matuku. He and his wife Gail are the official recorders of bittern populations in the Wairarapa Moana. On Sunday evening they heard 3 booming males around the Pounui Lagoons and just to add more excitement, early the next morning John heard the 3 males again plus a female response call. We are very pleased because there appears to be 1 more booming male than when the survey was completed a couple of years ago. It would appear that the predator control work around this important wetland area is making a difference. Let’s hope the birds breed successfully again this year.

Trying to hide

Just caught a fish!

The banded dotterels are in full breeding plumage and some are even beginning to sit on eggs. Dougal and I visited Onoke Spit today and saw many of these delightful little birds in pairs spread out on the Spit. Let’s hope they’re not too early with their breeding behaviour as a late winter/spring storm could still be a possibility.

Pair of banded dotterels

We also saw four Caspian terns and plenty of black backed gulls enjoying the sunshine.

Caspian tern in flight

When Dougal was checking the traps around the Pounui Lagoons yesterday he sighted another bittern.
Bitterns are able to be sighted more easily at the moment because the water level in the lagoons is very high because the mouth of the Ruamahanga river has been closed for a number of weeks. The Onoke Spit at the Lake Ferry end has built by southerly swells up and hence the river mouth is blocked. This closure leads to a back log of water as the streams and rivers are unable to flow out to sea. Good for waterfowl but not so good for waders as the mudflats are all under water.

What a wonderful couple of days Dougal and I have just had being hosted by Will and Rose Parsons at Driftwood Retreat near Blenheim.This is a very ancient and beautiful part of NZ and well a visit
We were really privileged to be taken out in kayaks on the Wairau Lagoon by Will for an evening tour to watch the wading birds of the lagoon area feeding. It was truly a magical experience to see so many birds and get so close to them because of the stealth and familiarity of the kayaks. We would highly recommend this trip to all bird lovers. To find out more go to driftwoodecotours.co.nz.
Here are some of Dougal’s pictures from the trip.

Spotted Shags roosting on driftwood

Godwits gathering in Wairau Lagoon

South Island pied oyster catcher dealing to a pipi

Pied stilt feeding

Will and I sharing bird stories over dinner

Wow what a summer we are having and while we are loving the warm weather the birds are feeling the heat around our garden. We have so enjoyed watching them feed and come in to our many bird baths either to drink or bathe.
Below are some of Dougal’s pictures over this holiday time.
Tui enjoying pohutukawa

Kereru drinking

Bellbird

Bellbird bathing

Young tui

On Saturday while visiting the Spit with seven members of the Wairarapa branch of Birds NZ we sited a bittern flying from the jointed rushes near the carpark and over the Kiriwai Lagoon. This was very exciting as just 2 days previously we had been at a meeting with bittern expert John Cheyne who told us that the Australasian bittern is extremely endangered here in NZ as well as in Australia. It is estimated that there are only approx 700-800 birds in NZ at present. So what a thrill to see one at Kiriwai Lagoon and then later in the day we saw another bird at the Pounui Lagoon. These birds are magnificent in flight, very graceful with an enormous wingspan. Dougal did try to take a picture, but the quality was poor as the bird really surprised us.
The following picture is of some white faced heron fishing around the waters edge – much easier to capture at the time!
L