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Phil Hammond just phoned to report a glossy ibis in a flooded paddock from Shelly Beach Road, which is off Campbell Road, which is off SH25 between Pipiroa and Kopu (southern end of the Firth of Thames).
Also there with the ibis, ~300 wrybills, 21 cattle egrets, 40 spoonbills and some bar-tailed godwits.

The Glossy Ibis is there now. While watching, it has just taken off and flying round with 5 Cattle Egrets and now disappeared over the river bank.

Grahame

Me , Oscar and Harry did a slight detour on the way to the Kawhia Pelagic on Saturday and went and had a look for the Glossy Ibis at about 4pm. When we got there it was low tide and it wasn't in the muddy flooded paddock. So we went right past the paddock along the stop bank, through the gate and carried on along the stop bank for the 2 right angle turns. After the second turn you see a nice wetland area on your left and it was in there with some stilts. Below are some average shots of it.

We also saw the 21 Cattle Egrets either in the trees or in the fields on the other side of the track by the flooded muddy paddock. In the flooded paddock were one godwit, one spoonbill, lots of pied stilts and no wrybills.

Cheers Scott

Three of us searched the area for a few hours this afternoon, but found no sign of the Glossy Ibis. This is not to say it wasn't there, as it is a difficult area to see, and if it was with the Cattle Egrets as it was yesterday, it may well have been hidden for long periods, as were some of the Cattle Egrets.
Cheers
Grahame

It was high tide when I first saw the ibis yesterday along with hundreds of waders.

The site is best viewed at high tide on one of the smaller tides [3m or less]---there is usually too much water in there on the biggest tides

This temporary wader site wont be there for ever, at least not as it is now, it was created when the stopbank of the local river was breached in the January storms. The local farmer [who is having to spend heaps on supplementary feed in the meantime] doesn't think the breach can be fixed until next summer. Then he will have to plough and re-sow----might still be worth inspecting after that

Phil Hammond
Wrybill Birding Tours
Great Birds Real Birders

Bird is at spot Scott mentioned now.

I was there from 8:00am to about 10:30am then went for lunch. I was back later and ran in to Grahame and Paul and as Grahame mentioned we searched with no success.
In the morning in the mud to the west of the Hauraki Cycle Trail (the flooded fields) there were a large collection of waders:
27 Royal Spoonbill
227 Pied Stilt
84 Wrybill
287 SIPO and more arriving all the time.
75 Bar-tailed Godwit and more arriving all the time.
24 Spur Winged Plover (probably more)
White-faced Heron
and the usual mixture of other birds. Lots of mallards and strange looking ducks.

If it may help future birders, turning right at the top of Campbell Road, for a short distance, the Cattle Egrets are often in the fields to the left (North) with the cattle. The Ibis was here with them for a while on Sunday morning before flying north over the bank to where it has also been seen.
Good luck,
Grahame

Here is a map to clarify where Scott, Harry and I had the Glossy ibis on Saturday afternoon, represented by the pink flower. The orange shape shows where we saw the Cattle egrets travel between, the red line is the road/cycleway for access, and the blue shape is the flooded paddocks. But it is worth noting that both the ibis and the egrets can be seen (and have been seen) all throughout this massive area. Also of interest was a large Pied shag colony across the Piako river (could be viewed between gaps in the mangroves and heard all over), plus Banded rail calling.

]It is a great spot for birds, and it was a surprise to see three feral pigs in the same area as the ibis and had been living under shrubs with fernbird. I not sure if they have been released but not great to see them in such a cool bird area.
Amongst the SIPOs was one partly leucestic.
It would be great if the flooded area remained unused by farmers as it seems to be a popular reserve for the birds.