Kuaka tagged ABN

This morning I lucked on being at the point of land above the cliff in front of the house at the right time for a good photo of the sunrise. Due to high tide being 0640 today, I went back inside and had my breakfast of muesli and coffee. Later, I went down the stairs to Southend, and headed along the length of Snells Beach to Whisper Cove. S had told me that someone saw Fairy Terns at Whisper Bay. (They were not there today.)

On my way there I was distracted by as many new (for this year) bird species as yesterday, and without that distraction, the return was much more running and much less walking. Overall it met my criteria for calling it a jog. I was struck by the large number of Kuaka I saw. On one piece of sand protruding into the bay, were more than 60 kuaka, being very relaxed and non-flighty. Perhaps they were still a bit asleep?

Out of a sizeable collection of photos to choose from, I have picked one of two Kuaka; one of which has a tag on one leg. I think it reads ABN, but am prepared to be corrected about the third letter. I have not been able so far to find anything about such tags. Such attempts to identify aspects of the behaviour of birds shows that Humans can be good and not harmful to other species..


Photos of a Little Pied Shag, a NZ Dotterel, a large putangitangi family, two finches (greenfinch and chaffinch), a herring gull, and a white-faced heron, could have been (although haven’t been) put up as extras.