After the unfortunate shark development the previous day, today would mostly be spent driving; first from the town of Bluff back to Dunedin, with Ben and Hannah, before I then said my farewells and drove myself back down to Bluff to be ready for the next days shark reattempt. Sadly this meant little time for birding, and I finally arrived back in Bluff at around 18:00, having left at 11:00.
Still, because I arrived back in a reasonable time, I decided
to have a short couple of hours birding the Tiawi Estuary again, but this time
the north side of the estuary, birding specifically the northeast corner to see
what waders I could find on the mud there. There was not too much difference, but five Royal Spoonbills were nice and there was a pleasant
surprise with a nearly summer plumage Pacific Golden Plover. And there was a
new bird for me here as well, as I finally got to grips with the Sacred Kingfisher,
and its New Zealand endemic subspecies, with an individual perching very nicely
on the wires above the road.
So despite the long day and long drive, it came good in the
end with a few nice birds seen and being ideally placed for the following days
repeat attempt to see Great White Shark.
Awarua Bay: Canada Goose, Black Swan, Mallard, South Island Oystercatcher, Variable Oystercatcher, Pacific Golden Plover, Masked Lapwing, Double-banded Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Silver Gull, Kelp Gull, Caspian Tern, Foveaux Shag, White-faced Heron, Royal Spoonbill, Swamp Harrier, Sacred Kingfisher, Grey Gerygone, Australian Magpie, New Zealand Fantail, Eurasian Skylark, Common Starling, Song Thrush, Common Blackbird, New Zealand Pipit, Eurasian Chaffinch, Lesser Redpoll, European Goldfinch,
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