Hi all,
A bit of birding late this afternoon in Hawkes Bay. There was a large number of gulls, terns and gannets feeding offshore from Haumoana and I saw at least two Arctic skua chasing terns - a dark morph and an intermediate morph. Most of the feeding birds were a long way out so may have been more around.
At least two turnstone and 25-30 banded dotterel at the Clive River mouth, with several banded dotterel obviously nesting out on the beach as well. There was what looked like about 100-150 white-fronted terns in a tight group on the southern side of the river mouth up on the top of the beach, and I assumed they were breeding. However, they all got up and flew off and when I investigated there was no sign of any nesting. There were no nesting terns/gulls at the Tukituki River mouth either (or anywhere along the beach between). In fact the only nesting gulls/terns I have seen this season was a flock of approx 100 black-billed gulls on 19 Nov on the Ngaruroro River at Mangatahi (4 nests with a single egg and c 28 partially built nests).
The little egret was feeding with a white-faced heron in the Tukituki River just below the main road bridge between Clive and Haumoana on 20 Nov.
Clients I took on a kiwi tour at Cape Kidnappers on 20 Nov said that earlier in the week they had seen killer whales near Black Reef/Cape Kidnappers. They are unlikely to still be in Hawkes Bay, but worth keeping a look out.
Cheers,
