Juvenile male putangitangi

Early this evening I went down to Western Springs lake, where I joined multiple family and other groups, many carrying the forbidden bread in plastic bags. Signs instructing visitors to not feed the birds, especially on the water, may as well be written in an alien language for all the effect they have. Because I was there on my own, carrying a camera rather than a bag of bread, I was ignored by the sparrows, the pigeons, the gulls, the swans and the geese, the ducks. Even pukeko ran toward the groups of people and if they paid me any attention it was to run away. The various types of chicken are by the playground, but if they were on this side of the lake, they also would head to the bread.

Not so the Kawau tui (little black shag) quietly diving in one of the outpouchings from the main lake. It left hurriedly after being hassled by ducks and a swan or two, returning to the group of kawau tui roosting near the top of the trees where six months ago the spoonbills gathered. Papango (the native black teal) also ignores the bread unless a piece drops right in front of it. The only one I saw this evening had its head tucked firmly away as it ignored everyone, not just me. Australasian coots sometimes are tempted.

The rather lordly putangitangi (paradise shelduck) stick to their diet of green vegetation on land or water. This juvenile male was unaccompanied on the reach where the Kawau tui had been some time before. The mallards kept their distance, suggesting that kawau tui are easier targets for being hassled.