Nankeen Night Heron Upokongaro

[jimmifinn]

Nankeen night heron at the Upokongaro café

Nankeen at Cafe IMG_3360.jpg (406.38 KiB) Viewed 2339 times

A Nankeen night heron was warming in the sunshine today at the cafe, 'Behind the Door on 4' at Upokongaro. When we arrived for a coffee at 2.30pm, no birds were visible. One appeared in the Sycamore tree beside the cafe woodshed at 2.45 pm. There was some clematis partially obscuring some views, but it was still there at 3.30 pm when we left as the café closed.

Another Nankeen was calling from the poplars across the Upokongaro Stream, but I was unable to sight the second bird.

Staff are very supportive of birders and provide great coffee and in house made cakes.

Jim Norris

[David Riddell]

Had a look for night herons at the cafe and along the stream bank last Friday between 2pm and 3pm, and again on the stream bank from 4pm to 5.30pm on Saturday, without success. Our strike rate at Upokongaro is now 20% - are we unlucky, or do others often miss them?

[rmacdee]

Saw 2 circling fairly high and calling about the bend in the Makirikiri Valley Road but couldn't see where they landed. Today (Wednesday) at around 10:30.

[jimmifinn]

We popped out to Upokongaro café for a late lunch this afternoon. At 1.30pm a single Nankeen was showing well in the gum tree behind the house next door to the café. It could be seen clearly from the café back garden by looking across the hedge on the boundary of the cafe garden and at 1.35pm I was able to show this bird to a group of three local birders who had been looking for a Nankeen experience. By 2.00pm when a Waikanae birder arrived at the cafe, it had disappeared into the depths of the gum and we weren't able to spot it again. Disappointing, as it was a nice bird in full adult plumage, looking good in the afternoon sun.

For David Riddell, I think a 20% success rate is not too bad, particularly when the deciduous trees are in full leaf. From June through til September my estimate of your likely success at the Upokongaro cafê garden is as follows:

Jim's Rules of Thumb.
A winter's day will give you a 25% chance
A nice sunny day will give you a 50% chance
A cold, miserable night followed by a sunny day will give you an 80% chance.

They are crepuscular birds so a sighting is not guaranteed and it helps if you know where to look for them. The café staff welcome birders and will guide you to the likely spots if you ask for help.

If they are not there when you arrive, I find that after enjoying a good coffee they will often appear in the outer branches at about 3.00pm.

There are at least four birds there at the moment, maybe more although it is unusual to see more than one or two. We are lucky to have these rare Nankeens located in the grounds of a public space where there is no restriction on viewing them during the café opening hours, 10am til 3.30pm except Mondays.
Good luck.

Jim Norris

[RussCannings]

Just happened to be passing through Whanganui near dusk so this obviously necessitated a chance stop in Upokongaro. I started on the opposite side of the stream behind the cafe and walked down to the bank. I could hear crashing around, as if some night herons might be getting restless and ready to take off but could not see anything beyond beeping blackbirds. I was not hearing any calls either and figured I'd have a better chance watching/listening from the highway side (in case other birds might be flying up/down the main river as well).

Over near the cafe I bumped into a couple other Waikato birders who had the same idea and as we chatted we heard a night heron call from behind the cafe. About 10min later a single adult night heron flew across the highway and immediately dropped down to the near bank of the Whanganui River. We could not relocate it where it seemed to land but it was getting quite dark at that point. At least one other bird called from the trees behind the cafe after this so there were multiple birds around.

Capped off an eventful night with a pair of Brown Kiwi about halfway up the Ohakune Mountain Road (NW side)--around midnight--along with numerous morepork.

Russ

[jimmifinn]

As a result of a juvenile Nankeen having been seen at Upokongaro yesterday, by Phil Thomsen, I went out to check for these birds this morning. At 11.15am. Two mature birds walked out on separate branches of the gum tree next door to the café. I was searching from down in the Upokongaro Stream from where the rear of this gum tree is visible. Both birds, partly obscured, stood sunning themselves and preening until 11.40am, when they quietly walked back into the depths of the foliage and were obscured from sight. I heard a young nankeen mewing for its parents from near the macrocarpa but wasn't able to see it.

At 12.15pm, I went round to the café for lunch and to check the usual roost trees for Nankeen herons. After several searches, eventually I found a juvenile Nankeen in the depths if the Holm Oak that grows over the café carport. It was nervous at the sight of my camera and kept moving higher in the tree until I lost sight if it. While I was still searching high in the tree for the young bird, I spotted two adults very high up. One each side of the main trunk.

A good day for night herons. Two adults in the gum tree, two adults and a juvenile in the Holm Oak.

Jim Norris

[jimmifinn]

At Upokongaro checking the Nankeens evening flights, approximately 20 to 30 minutes after sunset (8.14pm). Three birds flew from the Holm Oak, two from the Macrocarpa and three from the Gum tree. All trees are known roosts for the Nankeen night herons at Upokongaro. Six of the seven birds flew down the Whanganui River toward the estuary and one flew upstream. These flights took place between 8.23pm and 8.47pm. The flights comprised two birds, one bird, two birds one bird and one bird respectively. One bird returned at 8.50pm and flew up the Upokongaro Stream circled above the Avoca Hotel and back into the Holm Oak tree. It was a clear still night with good evening visibility until 8.45pm..

Jim Norris

[Byrd]

I was at the Upokongaro cafe today. It was my first time here to try and see the herons so I was prepared for disappointment, especially as few people seem to report visiting at this time of year, but they were easily spotted in the holm oak above the ex-car port. There were six birds that I saw (two pairs and two other birds perched singly), all in the same tree. One of the pairs looked like they were at a nest, but it could have just been a random jumble of debris in the branches - a bit hard to tell from the angle but it certainly looked like a heron nest.

We also had a look at Whangaehu in case there were any Cattle Egrets still about, but did not see any. Also did not see any cockatoos at Bushy Park.

[jimmifinn]

Well done 'Byrd'. A very interesting comment and great spotting of the six birds and potential nesting. We have not seen more than four Nankeens in the Holm Oak, so I went out to Upokongaro today with a rather healthy degree of scepticism. I have had to eat humble pie, as I did indeed find six Nankeens high in the Holm Oak at the café carport. I also found what 'Byrd' referred to as possible preparations of nesting.

The birds were scattered through the higher levels of the camopy and just two were associating closely with each other. The others were well spread out. It does indeed look as if nests are being built although they are very high in the tree and it will perhaps be a little while before that is confirmed. It is certainly an exciting possibility as to our knowledge the Nankeens have not bred at Upokongaro previously. They usually disappear about the end of October and return in early January.

This year has been a challenge for those of us seeking photo opportunities. For some reason, unknown at this stage, the Nankeens have not been coming out to sun themselves in the deciduous trees as they have consistently done in past years. A few have been seen out in the gum tree next door to the café, but even these have only been seen from across the Upokongaro Stream. The daytime sightings from within the café gardens have mostly been restricted to the Holm Oak which allows only partially obstructed views, because of the multiplicity of branching throughout the canopy. It is however, usually possible to see at least two or three from beneath this tree.

It is also unusual this year, that the Cattle Egrets, which normally return in May each year to a Dairy farm on Whangaehu Beach Road have not yet been seen in 2022. I have made several sortees along the Whangaehu Beach Road without luck and the local farmers tell me they have not seen the Cattle Egrets this winter.

Jim Norris

[Threeps]

On the recent Big Bird Day on 8th Oct the three members of Team Taranaki spotted four of the Nankeen Night Herons in the canopy of the small tree above the shelter inside the cafe (I assume this is the holm oak referred to by other posters). We had set ourselves up, with drinks and comestibles ordered, and were gazing into the trees across the stream, cameras and bins at the ready. It wasn't until our order arrived and the waitress asked if we were there to see "her birds" when she suggested that we move out from under the shelter and look straight up! There above our heads were four heron! We could have sat there all afternoon not knowing that there were only a couple of metres away...

One of the heron was exhibiting what we believed to be nesting behaviour: loosely arranging small twigs in a fork that it was pulling from branches close at hand. One other bird was displaying breeding plumage that you can see in the image below.

Nankeen Night Heron showing breeding plumage, Upokongaro, Whanganui

2022 10 08_6454-nankeen-night-heron-2.jpg (421.16 KiB) Viewed 1039 times