Possible Franklin's gull - Manukau Harbour

[philbattley]

Far out - a taxi both ways! Almost cheaper to hire a car.

Phil

[simon.fordham]

Frank was still on the asphalt at Bruce Pulman Park at 1630 today.

That superglue is proving to be a good all weather adhesive.

[Graham Saunders]

Has to be the easiest twitch I have ever done (perhaps because I wasn't attempting it with Tim!) and even the taxi driver saw the bird!

Yeh, rub it in why don't you? See even the robin-strokers see it. A total of 9 hrs driving there and back, 750+ kms, 4+ hrs spent in that ***** park and at the aerodrome and around. $100 on fuel, $50 on the meal to placate the girlfriend. At least Rewi's trip to see Kakapo was successful, and a whole lot cheaper. ***** ***** *****!

[Brent Stephenson]

Sorry Graham!

Yeah Phil, figured it was six of one half a dozen of the other with regards to taxis and hire cars. I had limited time and didn't want the hassle of talking to hire person and filling out forms, refilling with fuel, finding my way there, etc. So opted for the taxi as he knew the way and turned out to be just $104 (he cut me a deal) - a heck of a lot cheaper than driving from Hawkes Bay and one hour total turn around from the airport instead of 9 hours from Hawkes Bay!

PLUS - if there is one thing I have learnt through twitching (or dipping more appropriately!) it's GO FOR THE BIRD AT THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY!! Those damn whistling ducks, the reed warbler...just to name a few!

Cheers,

[Neil Fitzgerald]

Has to be the easiest twitch I have ever done (perhaps because I wasn't attempting it with Tim!) and even the taxi driver saw the bird!

Yeh, rub it in why don't you? See even the robin-strokers see it. A total of 9 hrs driving there and back, 750+ kms, 4+ hrs spent in that ***** park and at the aerodrome and around. $100 on fuel, $50 on the meal to placate the girlfriend. At least Rewi's trip to see Kakapo was successful, and a whole lot cheaper. ***** ***** *****!

There is a MasterCard punch line in this somewhere. Not being bright enough to think of it, worthless.

[Graham Saunders]

... Come to think of it Neil, it's probably closer to those government ones: "... Unpaid fines that prevented you seeing the bird..."

* Not that I have unpaid fines; indeed I've never been fined; law-abiding citizen.

[Suzi]

How about ...

"There are some birds some people just can't see ... For everything else, there's Mastercard" !

Yours sympathetically,
Suzi

[Ian Southey]

Time for more pictures. This bird still doesn't know what to make of me but is more tolerant now. The last 3 primaries are growing out now but probably still a while to wait to see the wing pattern.

Ian

[Shane McPherson]

AHHHHH. Well for a starters, a dark stormy 7pm is the worst timing in the world. That was on the way south on Tuesday, the weather had really set in, an it was obviously roosting time. (Does anyone have a guess as to where it roosts - becasue it seems its NOT The Park).

Today, after checking on the emails the night before, a second attempt. I was sure that it was going to be as easy as Brent describes. It was 1.30pm, although windy, the weather was lifting seemingly in preperation for the grand show....

well Graham, you are not alone.

[Graham Saunders]

Shane, a little bird has told me that mornings are best...