Leucistic Pied Stilt

[sav]

Hi all,

This morning I found this almost pure white Pied Stilt at Porangahau in Hawkes Bay. The photo is awful, but the bird was simply stunning, and I guess you can get a feel for it.

The body and flight feathers were totally white with just a few scattered black feathers in the scapulars.

Unfortunately for anyone wishing to see it, the bird was at the far Northern end of Porangahau Beach. A good count of 43 Wrybill were also present.

IMG_0567 (002).jpg (124.72 KiB) Viewed 1054 times

cheers

[andrewcrossland]

What a stunner!!

[Glenn Jennings]

Beautiful !! Such a lucky find!! Would love to see it but just too far away. It is amoment to treasure. Thanks for posting it.

[Nikki McArthur]

Hi all,

Robin Toy encountered this bird at the northern end of Porangahau Estuary again yesterday, a good year and a half after Sav's initial sighting!

Cheers,
Nikki

Addendum: A further browse on Birding NZ has revealed a much earlier report of this bird, posted by Joanna McVeagh in mid-2018:

https://www.birdingnz.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7813&p=37279&hilit=leucistic+and+porangahau#p37279

So this bird has been around for at least five and a half years, but only reported three times - an indication of how infrequently this gem of an estuary is visited by birders?