Australasian little grebe, St Anne's Lagoon

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Oscar Thomas
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Location: Dunedin
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Australasian little grebe, St Anne's Lagoon

Postby Oscar Thomas » Wed Apr 25, 2018 7:21 pm

Popped into the Lagoon after the Kaikoura Pelagic today, at around 5pm we saw this Little grebe on the far side of the pond under some rushes. I saw on Ebird that Colin Miskelly saw 6 there once, although that was in 1983. Is this more likely to be a vagrant bird from Australia than from up North? It was dark and distant but here's a record shot:
littlegrebe.jpg
littlegrebe.jpg (419.21 KiB) Viewed 2066 times
smalva
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Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2014 4:01 pm

Re: Australasian little grebe, St Anne's Lagoon

Postby smalva » Tue May 01, 2018 12:41 pm

Hi Oscar thanks so much for your heads up on the Grebe and the photo. I spent Sat wondering around the lagoon for many hours in the rain and low light but no luck. Decided to do another day as in the area so made my way there at 6am as felt sure it would be less wary at that hour of the day. Finally at 10.30 the little grebe came out into the patch of sunshine for a thorough grooming, then hovered with the scaup on the log close by before retreating back to the bush. Really thrilled to finally see one and worth the wait. The grebe was in the same area at the back of the lagoon as per picture. :D
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Oscar Thomas
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Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 7:15 pm
Location: Dunedin
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Re: Australasian little grebe, St Anne's Lagoon

Postby Oscar Thomas » Tue May 01, 2018 4:09 pm

You're very welcome, patience can pay off :)
Matthias
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Re: Australasian little grebe, St Anne's Lagoon

Postby Matthias » Mon May 07, 2018 9:26 pm

The grebe showed itself briefly on Saturday morning in the southeastern part of the pond/lake.
I assume that it doesn't happen very often that all four species of grebe are present on the South Island at the same time.

Also present were two Cape Barren Geese (the first time that I have seen them there).

Cheers,
Matthias

AustralasianLittleGrebe_StAnnesLagoon_20180505.jpg
AustralasianLittleGrebe_StAnnesLagoon_20180505.jpg (274.2 KiB) Viewed 1741 times
CapeBarrenGoose_StAnnesLagoon_20180505.jpg
CapeBarrenGoose_StAnnesLagoon_20180505.jpg (174.09 KiB) Viewed 1741 times

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