New Zealand 2010: Wairau Lagoon Birding Walk


Pied shag

Today we wanted to get out and get some exercise again, so we left at around 10AM for the nearby Wairau Lagoons for a walk out to the TSS Waverley wreck and some birding.

The winds picked up even more than earlier in the morning, so we bundled up and headed out on still very soggy paths. At the entrance to the track we saw a sign explaining that due to the mud, a local running event held yesterday had been moved to Whites Bay, but we forged on as we were well-equipped.

Click here for larger photos and captions.

Where the loop trail split, we tried to go left, but there was just too much water/mud on the trail so we had to back up and go the longer way.

The royal spoonbill colony was still full of birds, and we saw some pied stilts, shags along with gulls and skylarks. The poor birds struggled hard to fly in the high winds! We also enjoyed seeing the little white crab things dart into their holes.

As we got farther out we saw more solitary spoonbills and got very close to some photogenic pied shags.

At the Waverly wreck, the sprinkles started, and the final 30 minutes of our walk we got rained on quite a bit. But we stayed mostly dry, got in about a 4 mile walk and were happy with our birding photography.

1 comment:

UnknownSeptember 23, 2010 at 10:23 AM
It's ALWAYS windy near the Equinox! You've heard of the saying about March: In like a lion, out like a lamb? Well, add six months and reverse the saying and you get September in NZ: In like a lamb, out like a lion!
I was wondering myself how the birds cope with high winds.
That walk is always boggy, but always scenic. I thought you had visited the Wairau diversion out near Spring Creek. Monkey's Bay out near Rarangi is nice too.