Intermediate egret - Maketu (Kaituna)

[Tim Barnard]

Hi
The bird was present in the flooded fields close to the Cut at the Kaituna River mouth. Later on the river near Ford Island. Great egret in the old lagoon. Good comparison. Work on the Kaituna diversion is now underway. Ford Rd will close 1 August so access will be limited till December.
All the best
Tim

[RussCannings]

Great find Tim!

Lisa and I will head that way soon and take a look. If anyone else is out on patrol we can keep in touch via text. Mine is 021994156.

Russ

[RussCannings]

4 of us prowled for egrets in the Maketu area today but only came up with 3 Great Egrets (kotuku). Lots of birds out there for sure. Need a week to cover the area! Hopefully it resurfaces in a convenient and reliable location.

Russ & Lisa C

[Tim Barnard]

I've never seen three Great Egret at Maketu ... we have one reliable bird ... three??
Cheers
Tim

[RussCannings]

Sorry Tim, to be more exact--1 at Ford Rd, and 2 over in the Thornton area (1 along the hwy and 1 at the lagoon). Also appeared to be multiple BF terns fishing off matata with WFTs. Checked through around 250 shoveler at matata but no northerns. No Cattle Egrets seen today.

[Raewyn]

Hi Tim and Russ. I walked the whole spit that day 10:30am-3:00pm and because my objective was the big walk I travelled light and left the big lens at home, only taking 18-250mm with me. On my way out I stopped at Ford's Cut to take a quick couple of photos because the next time it's open at Christmas it will look VERY different. And I saw the "white heron" and took a couple of grab shots of it. Now I think it was the intermediate egret you two saw. Am I right? These are the only two photos I took - heavily cropped with little detail on the smaller lens.