Kotuku

It was pouring with rain when Blipmate and I arrived at Mapua on our usual Saturday Blip excursion this morning. Blipmate braved the rain and looked around the corner only to be back quickly to tell me that the white heron was there sitting on a table outside the cafe. It suddenly didn't matter about the rain and we took up our station under a shop veranda. The heron regularly appears at the cafe, because they feed it fish and we got to see that happen today.

It won't be long before this one is off to the sole breeding ground in the country. A black beak, long lacy feathers on their backs and  green around the eyes are all part of the transformation the birds go through at breeding time. The changes have started on the one we saw today.

We tend to get a bit excited here in NZ when we see a white heron as they are rare here with only about 200 in the country.