Shore Plovers at Plimmerton
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Re: Shore Plovers at Plimmerton
Around 30 birds there this morning - a very high tide so they were quite scattered around the area. I observed a new behaviour - about half a dozen juveniles perching on the seawall !
- craigsteed
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Re: Shore Plovers at Plimmerton
Popped down to Plimmerton this morning from Palmy and while the rain en route suggested photography was going to be pretty dicey and the high seas made me wonder if I'd even see the birds, fears were quickly allayed as I hopped out of the car by the fire station and immediately saw a few birds. The majority of the group were down the road a bit below the grassy patch. The rain held for half and hour or so and I was able to get some nice photos. Bumped into Sue who was doing a quick count and still seemed about 30 birds still present. Amazing to see.
- philbattley
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Re: Shore Plovers at Plimmerton
Nice atmospheric shot, Craig!
- philbattley
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Re: Shore Plovers at Plimmerton
31 Shore Plovers at Plimmerton this morning; 1 Emperor Penguin and 30 people up the coast...
Phil
Phil
- ledzep
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Re: Shore Plovers at Plimmerton
I counted 26 Shore Plover this morning, not too worried about dogs walking past nearby despite the high tide.
- bsd1
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Re: Shore Plovers at Plimmerton
Received this from the Plimmerton Residents Association this morning:
So if you want to see the Shore Plovers you're running out of time. I guess time will tell if this is successful.
And to finish off, a few photos from yesterday.
Shore Plover washing
Evening flight
Landing
subject: Message from PCC Bill Inge Manager Parks & Reserves
Good afternoon
Terry Swadling of DOC has just phoned me with an update.
The experts have decided to relocate the Shore Plovers back to Mana Island next week. It will be dependant on wind and tide when during the week.
They are going to be taken back and probably kept in the aviary to help re-establish them on the island. They say catching birds is a specialist task and best left to the experts.
If this does not work, they will come back to ask us for help from the Council and the Community to help protect the birds when they are nesting.
So if you want to see the Shore Plovers you're running out of time. I guess time will tell if this is successful.
And to finish off, a few photos from yesterday.
Shore Plover washing
Evening flight
Landing
- tim
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Re: Shore Plovers at Plimmerton
Thanks for that update Brendon, I guess we all knew it might have come to this.
It would have been intresting if they held off for a month or so as most of the flock should be heading back to the island to breed "If they do or if they already have built up areas around the fire station to nest"
When I was there last month there was early sights of partner pairing etc.
It would have been intresting if they held off for a month or so as most of the flock should be heading back to the island to breed "If they do or if they already have built up areas around the fire station to nest"
When I was there last month there was early sights of partner pairing etc.
Tim Rumble
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Re: Shore Plovers at Plimmerton
Ian Southey wrote:Maybe the first step to community involvement might be to get an article in the local newspaper. I think it's already interesting enough and there seem to be some good pictures too.
Ian
I see there was a recent article about the shore plovers in the Dominion Post here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5226066/Flock-of-rare-shorebird-stays-close-to-home
The Plimmerton community web site also has an article about them:
http://www.plimmerton.org.nz/shore-plover/
We visited Plimmerton recently at high tide and on a very windy and showery day. We counted at least 30 shore plovers on the beach. It was interesting to see how the shore plovers interacted with the seagulls and the heavy swell that kept reducing the amount of beach that they had to work with!
I have updated my website to show some new pictures of the shore plovers, including a page to show pictures of the birds in flight:
http://www.robsphotography.co.nz/Shore-Plover.html
http://www.robsphotography.co.nz/Shore-Plover-2.html
Here are two of the images from my site:
I have also put 2 short videos on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_CQEmn-Cbw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AvX1R-N_JE
Because of the very loud wind and sea noise, I have removed the sound from the above videos. We were impressed with how fast the birds moved around, it is certainly quite challenging to get good pictures of them.
Regards
Rob
Last edited by robsphotography on Thu Jul 14, 2011 10:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
- Michael Szabo
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Re: Shore Plovers at Plimmerton
There were 32 shore plovers on the beach at Plimmerton late morning today, hunkered down in the face of a very strong, cold onshore wind!
'Birds New Zealand' Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Birdsnewzealand
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Re: Shore Plovers at Plimmerton
Is there any word on whether the shore plovers have been relocated back to Mana yet?