So who is this weirdo?

Hi! My name is Liam and I am a beginner birder living in Glen Massey. I first became interested in birds after a 6-month missions trip to Papua New Guinea in 2016, and my interest grew from there! I am now a member of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand and Young Birders New Zealand (OSNZ and YBNZ respectively ). So now, I'm starting this blog so I can share my birding adventures with anyone who will listen ☺.

Saturday 20 January 2018

The next 10 days...

It's been an action- and bird-packed few days, as I try and bump my year list up. I'll try and keep it short.

January 11th - Walking up Mt Te Aroha, followed by a visit to the slightly creepy Howarth Memorial Wetlands. Few bush birds around, however, there were some baby Dabchicks and a few Grey Teal in the wetlands. No sign of any crakes though.

January 12th - Fairly uneventful, although I managed to catch up with the resident New Zealand Pipit hanging around the back of our road, as well as a few Lesser Redpolls. Late that night I boarded the bus to Wellington.

January 13th - I arrived at Wellington the next morning, snatching four hours sleep on the bus. I met with George Hobson - a fellow birder - and his dad. We began driving up the coast to Otaki Wastewater Treatment Plant, where we picked up Michael Burton-Smith and Huia Wesling-Macgregor. Thanks to George's sharp eyes I got my first lifer of the year - Black-fronted Dotterel and we kept going up the Kapiti coast. Bar-tailed Godwit and Red Knot at Ohau Estuary as well as a Barbary Dove, followed by some Banded Dotterels at Foxton Beach and Black-billed Gulls at Lake Horowhenua - all new for my year list! We made it to Whanganui, where we dipped on New Zealand's only known population of Nankeen Night-Herons, but picked up Mute Swan at Virginia Lake and New Zealand Falcon and North Island Robin at Kemp's Pole, among others. A big day indeed!

January 14th - Straight on to a bach in Pungarehu, Taranaki Region, with my family. An afternoon seawatch at Cape Egmont yielded a whole swag of lifers - Sooty, Flesh-footed, Buller's Shearwaters, and Common Diving-Petrel. Buller's Shearwater was number 120 on my NZ list... No mollymawks or albatrosses though.

January 15th - 18th - Our Taranaki holiday continued, with much beach birding but nothing extra-special. A bit of bush birding too, with Rifleman being the highlight.

January 19th - Heading home, we stopped at Mapara Scenic Reserve to look for kokako. No luck though, however Long-tailed Cuckoo and New Zealand Falcon were nice consolation prizes.

January 20th - Sat at home. Wrote blog post.

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