Transitioning to adult plumage

Milk was needed for S' morning coffee. I decided to chance the high tide and go the long way to the dairy, around the edge of the water at Southend. I was rather too late, and decided to go up an access pathway to another road, and then back down yet another access path, further around to the main sweep of Snells Beach. That worked well and I got some good photos of a small flock of Parera. This is the New Zealand native grey duck, which have mostly hybridised with mallards. The ones  saw are likely to be Parera dominant at most, as there are said to be few genetically pure Parera left.

To get further around, however, I did need to get my road shoes wet. After which I came across a group of Tarapunga (red-billed gulls) and two Poaka (Pied stilts). They seemed to be with the gulls, perhaps for protection, as they looked like juveniles, this one especially.

A quiet day has followed. Mainly resting.