I spotted a small group of seven wrybill feeding on the Whanganui estuary yesterday afternoon around 1500. They were working their way downstream from the Whanganui Sailing Club into the teeth of a gale! They were hunkered down into the wind as they walked but some of the gusts were so strong they were occasionally knocked sideways. I struggled to hold the camera steady enough to get some decent images so apologies for the quality of the images attached.
I normally spend my time birding in northern Taranaki so didn't realise that these wrybill were unreported recently on eBird or on the NZ Bird Atlas.
Braving the strong gusts on the incoming tide there were also three bar-tailed godwit, a dozen each of red-billed gulls, pied stilts and SIPO, some mallard, and around 150 Kelp gulls. My Atlas checklist: https://ebird.org/atlasnz/checklist/S62934670
Wrybill, Whanganui Estuary
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Wrybill, Whanganui Estuary
Steve Purdon
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Re: Wrybill, Whanganui Estuary
This is peak migration time. Probably just dropped in to wait for the wind to ease.
Ian
Ian
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Re: Wrybill, Whanganui Estuary
You are right Ian. During summer we often see flocks of wrybill drop in, but usually only stay a day or two. There are no resident wrybills on the Whanganui Estuary. There are though, around 15 to 20 resident godwits during summer.
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Re: Wrybill, Whanganui Estuary
So would these wrybill be likely to be heading north or south?
Steve Purdon
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Re: Wrybill, Whanganui Estuary
They'll be coming north. They will most probably end up at Mangere or Miranda because that's where most of the wrybill will end up.
Ian
Ian
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Re: Wrybill, Whanganui Estuary
Ian Southey wrote:They'll be coming north. They will most probably end up at Mangere or Miranda because that's where most of the wrybill will end up.
Ian
Cheers, Ian - I'll keep a look out for them when they pass me here in north Taranaki!
Steve Purdon
No te whenua mo nga Kotimana ahau.
No te whenua mo nga Kotimana ahau.