Bird spotting

Motueka Sandspit – Sunday 29 October 2017

We started at 8:00 from Richmond and drove to the Saltwater Baths at Motueka. Eight people were on this trip, half the number of three months earlier. This trip was planned mainly to view the birdlife on the spit. With Noelene our bird lady, we quickly viewed the busily feeding godwits from a distance, as that is all they do here in NZ. We walked to the end, noting the spit had changed dramatically with the breach in the middle of the spit almost filled in completely with sand and there appeared to be a lot more sand build-up at the very end.

Coming back from the end I took yet another mussel buoy in tow while Maria and others scoured the dunes for nests being very successful finding gull, oystercatcher, and banded Dotterel nests. The day was beautiful with high cloud most of the day and light winds. Even with the high cloud we all felt a glow of sun on our skins as we enjoyed post-trip refreshments at Toad Hall.

The group included Rob, Maria, Ian, David, Julian, Pat, Noelene and Anne.                                              Rob