Black-fronted Terns, Island Bay

[Michael Szabo]

I saw 7 Black-fronted Terns flying east between Island Bay and Te Raekaihau Pt this afternoon where there was a flock of 120 White-fronted Terns, 3 dark morph Arctic Skuas chasing WFTs offshore. An immature NZ Falcon also flew across Island Bay:
https://ebird.org/atlasnz/checklist/S13 ... YhzVqjvqQA

[Michael Szabo]

Saw 10 Black-fronted Terns with a flock of 500+ White-fronted Terns at Te Raekaihau Pt this morning plus some White-capped Albatrosses and giant petrels offshore following a fishing boat - photos posted with 2 eBird Atlas checklists:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S130431333
https://ebird.org/checklist/S130431115

[Michael Szabo]

5 BFTs with c.500 WFTs today roosting on the rocks at Te Raekaihau Pt and feeding offshore plus a pale morph Arctic Skua chasing terns offshore:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S131152797

[Michael Szabo]

WFT flock still present there today with 10 BFTs plus 3 skua sp. chasing terns well offshore including one dark morph that looked smaller but too far away to ID to species level. Also a close encounter with a NZ Falcon at Princess Bay that swooped right past me and caught a small songbird, and a Swamp Harrier flew over the tern flock at the point:
https://ebird.org/atlasnz/checklist/S131244752