Glossy ibis & common greenshank

30/03/07 Glossy ibis and common greenshank seen at Unahi, near Kaitaia in the Far North
 
On their way north to Houhora to do the Three Kings pelagic with us – see the trip report here – Tim Barnard, Steve Wood and Thomas Paul stopped in at Unahi, near Kaitaia, in the Far North. Tim had recently heard from local birder Kevin Mathews that there was a glossy ibis at Unahi, and that it had been seen roosting with the large royal spoonbill flock that roosts in large Macrocarpa trees by the Unahi wharf. At 3.00 pm the bird arrived at the roost and settled alone near the top of the tree and the three were able to get great views through a scope, and Tim got the photo below. It stayed there for about 40 minutes before flying off to another tree further away on private land.

Whilst watching the ibis, Tim happened to scan the estuary and saw a bird that he thought was probably a common greenshank feeding about 800m away with four pied stilts. They managed to persuade a rather bemused fisherman to take them across to the mudflat it was feeding on, and of course as they got almost to it, the bird took to flight and flew right back and landed by the wharf! Of course it gave the diagnostic ‘chew chew chew’ call as it flew and showed off the nice white ‘V’ shaped rump patch.

Nice work boys!