Almost ready to rejoin the colony

Had another walk around the Western Springs Lake. The spoonbill colony (at least 24 strong) were in their preferred trees. Two left for the clump of lava rocks in the middle of the lake. There they either drank water, or did some filter feeding. Or both, I guess.

This photo shows the size and colour of the bill. For size comparison, the karoro (herring gull) is the largest of the New Zealand gulls, and is very much smaller than the spoonbill.

The Pukeko (today’s extra) caught my attention when I first reached the edge of the lake.