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Re: Nankeen Night Heron Upokongaro

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2018 7:56 pm
by Oscar Thomas
The bird returned to above the carport yesterday after a five-week absence, so it looks like I chose the right time to go looking for them. Thanks to Paul and Grahame for the ride, and to the cafe lady for pointing it out to us. A stunningly nice bird to be number 200 on my New Zealand list.

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Re: Nankeen Night Heron Upokongaro

Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2018 4:40 pm
by zarkov
Terrific pic, well done.

Re: Nankeen Night Heron Upokongaro

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 6:47 am
by RussCannings
Awesome stuff Oscar and good on Paul and Grahame for the assist!

Russ C
Morrinsville, NZ

Re: Nankeen Night Heron Upokongaro

Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 10:51 am
by CMKMStephens
I think that excellent photo is already world famous in New Zealand...or facebook. Co worker at work mentioned it.

Re: Nankeen Night Heron Upokongaro

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 7:30 am
by David Riddell
Annette and I dropped by yesterday evening. The cafe was closed, but we went to the pub next door, bought a couple of beers and got chatting to the publican, who let us go out the back to his yard (there was an outside table in front that we were hoping to sit at, but that's not part of the pub apparently). From there we were able to look up into the famous tree by the carport - couldn't see any sign of the bird, but we sat quietly as it got darker, and just after 6pm it flew from right up the top of the tree. It hadn't made a peep the whole time, but we could see it very well (at least in silhouette) as it wheeled around and headed up the stream, away from the river. By then it was fairly dark and starting to rain so we bailed, no sign or sound of any other individuals. The publican was interested to hear about it - he hadn't seen it in a couple of years, but says he'll know what to tell people in future if anyone asks.

Re: Nankeen Night Heron Upokongaro

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 4:44 pm
by Paul Gibson
We had coffee this afternoon at the cafe at Upokongaro. near Whanganui, and talked to the owner who confirmed that there are five night herons around at present, in the nearby trees. While we were there a bird came out into the open and gave us good views. It was in a plumage I had not seen before, like between immature and adult. The cafe changes ownership next month, after 10 years, so we will find out if the new owner is as friendly to birders as Cheryl has been.

http://www.upics.co.nz

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Re: Nankeen Night Heron Upokongaro

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 8:46 pm
by Alan Tennyson
Four flew out from behind the Upokongaro cafe at dusk tonight.

Re: Nankeen Night Heron Upokongaro

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2020 9:30 pm
by Alan Tennyson
I had a chat to the new owner of the cafe this afternoon. She knew of the herons but apparently hadn't seen one. I was able to show her one sitting in a tree. She got out her camera and her friend said that he'd make a posting on Facebook to let 'everyone' know that the 'herons were back'. Anyway, she was very friendly and hopes to see many birders come by, especially if they stop in for tea and cake!
Alan

Re: Nankeen Night Heron Upokongaro

Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2020 7:04 am
by Davidthomas
Good stuff Alan. I think it’s cool that they can see the business benefit of letting birders know when the birds are there but also help us birders actually see the bloody things, cause they’re annoyingly hard to pin down. Long may it last :)

Re: Nankeen Night Heron Upokongaro

Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2020 11:16 pm
by Alan Tennyson
Two birds roosting in the large deciduous tree today - cryptic but visible from the main road.