Northern Shov back at Kaiapoi Oxidation Ponds

[andrewcrossland]

Just doing the monthly Brooklands Lagoon/Lower Waimakariri/Kaiapoi Oxidation Ponds survey today. Thanks to Alice Waterhouse from the CCC ranger team for giving me a hand. Bird numbers are low at this time of year but nice to see a full BP male Northern Shoveler on the Kaiapoi Oxidation Ponds. I assume its the one from Pegasus town?

Totals for the area today were:
SIPO 58
VOC 11
Pied Stilt 96
B Dotterel 2
S/W Plover 32
EBT Godwit 262
Black-backed Gull 104
Black-billed Gull 18
Red-billed Gull 47
Black Swan 153
Canada Goose 36
Cape Barren Goose 1
Paradise Shelduck 80
Mallard/Grey 722
Grey Teal 832
NZ Scaup 96
Australasian Shoveler 1880
Northern Shoveler 1
Pukeko 138
Royal Spoonbill 98
Black Cormorant 1
Pied Cormorant 31
Little Cormorant 12
Little Black Cormorant 4
Spotted Shag 125
Welcome Swallow 105

TOTAL 4841

[AngryBird45]

I saw a bird with a similar coloured head at the Wetlands on Wednesday on its own, but I denied it was the Northern Shoveler. It could still be the bird as it has gone back and forth from the Oxidation Ponds to the Wetlands before, at the end of August.

[Jan]

Hi Andrew, have you counted the Godwits at A/H estuary lately?