Katikati birdwalk - Western Bay of Plenty.

[Andrew Rousell]

I have been visiting this local spot for the last 5 months and keeping a record of birds seen. This evening I reached my 50th species seen with 2 Bar Tailed Godwits as the Uretara stream opens out into the estuary. The area has provided regular Fernbird, Banded Rail, Spoonbill with all the usual marsh/wetland birds seen with a Kotuku turning up intermittently until late September and Bittern heard last about 3 weeks ago. I'm keen to know if any other people here, have or do visit this area.

[Ken George]

Hi Andrew, I was passing through Katikati yesterday and noticed the sign to the birdwalk. I moved to the eastern BOP nearly 3 years ago and treat the Maketu to Ohiwa stretch as my local patch, but I'm keen to do more exploring over the other side of Tauranga in the western BOP. Just by looking at a map, Tauranga Harbour, from Waihi Beach to Mt Maunganui/Welcome Bay, plus Matakana Island, is a big area with a lot of wetland, mangrove and mudflats. Any tips for good locations to check out? I'll come over and visit the Katikati birdwalk within the next month. It's interesting that the eBird species numbers for the whole area isn't as high as you'd expect, in comparison to Ohiwa Harbour which is a much smaller area but has waders and oystercatchers by the thousands, and a large number of wf terns.

[Logan]

Hi Ken, I just thought I would chime in as I have done a little bit of birding down there the last few summers.

Russ Cannings has made this amazingly helpful post regarding birding in this area: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=10749&p=46692&hilit=Tauranga+waders#p46671 , and it was still pretty much as he described when I was there in January this year. Obviously being careful when on the mudflats on an incoming tide is essential - something to be vigilant about when birding around Athenree - and the mudflat access from bridgman lane involves wading in mud, so gumboots are useful.

Also, Omokoroa has another roost that you can access by parking at the end of Tinopai Drive and taking the walkway down to the mudflats and walking south (right hand fork when you get down to the mudflats).

Good luck,

Logan

[Ken George]

Thanks for that Logan. I wasn't aware of Russ's previous post about the area so I'll check those sites out. Over on the eastern BOP, Ohiwa is a lovely location. Erik Forsyth and I counted 44 NZ dotts there last week.