Joining the others

After one of the hardest and longest weeks I have had at work, I managed to get away at a reasonable time to get back to the apartment, help pack up, and head north with S and the Auckland grandsons. We got here with enough daylight left, and the tide right, for me to go to the mudflats looking for kuaka. 

They were there, in moderate numbers. The largest group were at the southern end of Snells Beach, and smaller groups and occasional individuals were further north. As I tried to get closer to them, the masked lapwings sounded the alarm in their loud and raucous way, resulting in the flight of most of the birds, except for the ubiquitous herons.

And this particular kuaka (godwit), which chose to run through the shallows on its way to join the large group.

I have added as an extra a reflex shot of a heron alighting in the shallow water