Not of a feather

Yesterday afternoon I swept leaves off the path beside the beach house. Something I have not done for  some months. Finally, the pains have been stopped and I can move almost normally (for me). I made sure that I worked slowly and did not do too much. Slept well, and woke without either stiffness or pain. I celebrated by having a slow start, and headed down to the water more than three hours after high tide. 

As soon as I looked, I saw a group of kuaka (godwits). Later counted at least 30 in the group. I saw a smaller bird near the kuaka; because it looked so like the larger birds when it ran, I decided it couldn't be a Tuturiwhatu (dotterel). 

Then all the birds flew away to land a bit further along Snells Beach. I did a large semicircle to approach them from the other direction, before deciding to head back to the South End of Snells, hoping there to see tuturiwhatu. Which is when I saw this one fly in to join the group of kuaka. It clearly followed the larger kuaka, and perhaps it is helped in finding food by being in association. 

I have my photo library on an external hard drive, and have not been able to open that, nor transfer the contents to the MacBook. Perhaps the clever young persons at Ubertec will sort it for me.