BirdingNZ.net

Below is the results of the wader bird count from Lake Wairarapa conducted on November 17th:

52 black shags
6 little black shags
11 little shags
11 white-faced herons
2 Australasian bitterns
42 royal spoonbills
3194 black swans
7 Canada geese
55 feral geese
270 paradise shelducks
16 variable oystercatchers
416 pied stilts
8 banded dotterels
7 black-fronted dotterels
21 Pacific golden plovers
60 spur-winged plovers
1 sharp-tailed sandpiper
58 bar-tailed godwits
81 black-backed gulls
168 black-billed gulls
14 Caspian terns.

As per usual, some of the more numerous waterfowl (mallards, shoveler, grey teal) weren't counted, nor were passerines.
Regards
Joanna McVeagh

There were 11 bittern seen there yesterday morning.

Yes we saw 11 bitterns over the Lake yesterday.
This photo shows 5 of a group of 7 that flew past us, I could not get more that 5 in the frame at the same time. We saw 4 more that we know were not included in this group.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/46846480@ ... ed-public/

Below is the results of the wader bird count from Lake Wairarapa conducted on February 28th. Weather was ideal: light grey skies and no wind. The down side was the high lake level which meant most of us were wading in water all day, with very little exposed shoreline. This water level was possibly the reason we saw none of the smaller Arctic migrants such as Pectoral or Sharp-tailed sandpipers, which we always hope to see on the February count.

1 Glossy ibis (not seen here since 1992)
34 NZ dabchick
186 Black shag
73 Little black shag
16 Little shag
3 Pied shag
11 White-faced heron
145 Royal spoonbill
4875 Black swan
1017 Canada geese
174 feral geese
1224 Paradise shelduck
1 Variable oystercatcher
331 Pied stilt
203 Banded dotterel
23 Black-fronted dotterel
52 Pacific golden plover
9 Spur-winged plover
50 Bar-tailed godwit
45 Black-backed gull
78 Black-billed gull
59 Caspian tern
1 Pukeko

As per usual, some of the more numerous waterfowl (mallards, shoveler, grey teal) weren't counted, nor were passerines, as it wouldn't be possible in 1 day to do so.
Regards
Joanna McVeagh

Hi Johanna,
You should try to give counting shoveler, grey teal and scaup a go at peak times (late Dec - late june) because then you could document the conservation significance of the lake in terms if the 1 percent significance criterion (used by Ramsar, wetlands international etc).
Cheers

Hi Andrew
yes that is something which has been discussed and could be possible if enough people were involved.
There have been no scaup counted on the lake at all - but they are present in the wetlands and lagoons along the lake fringes.
Cheers
Joanna