Farewell Spit Eco Tours Blog

Murray’s last trip for the year provided him the opportunity to see the Curlew again, last time out about 3 days ago he saw four of them. The Far Eastern Curlew are the largest of the migratory waders to visit the Spit and we do not see them often. They are similar in size to a White Faced Heron and almost the same colour as a Godwit.

We have been expecting to see Variable Oystercatcher chicks for the past week or two but have seen none. Until today that is!

The little rascals have been keeping well out of sight untl today. Tim and Elaine saw five pairs between them, ranging from a day or two old to just fledged.

There have been numerous sightings of banded birds on the trips this summer.

More so this year than any other.

John saw a Godwit with a yellow flag or band on each leg today they were high on the left leg and low on the right.

The Gannet colony is about 2km. beyond the Lighthouse and on our last visit to the colony we saw the first chicks of the season.

Also nearby the first Caspian Tern babies were visible. There are about 75 pairs of Caspian Terns nesting on the end of the Spit they mate for life and can be seen all year in the vicinity.

Two baby Banded dotterels have just hatched on the Beachfront in Collingwood.

 This is the second year that Banded Dotterels have nested here and the family looks right at home amongst the driftwood and marram grass thats foreshore.

 This particular patch of shoreline is home to a large number of  oystercatchers both Variable and South Island Pied.

A first for Elaine occurred today when a Far eastern Curlew flew around her tour bus. These birds come here from the arctic circle to feed during our Summer. they are about the same size as a White faced heron light brown with a downward curved bill.

Variable Oystercatchers are at it again, two pairs were seen mating on the beach yesterday. There are about 25 pairs of these birds on the ocean beach of the Spit. Each pair has a territory of a kilometre or so and chicks usually hatch early in December. Tim also spotted snow on the top of Mt. Taranaki 200km away (no skiers though).

Lately there are lots of Caspian Terns on the beach in breeding plumage signalling that they are ready to get it together down on the end of the Spit. Their colony is close to that of the Gannets approx. two km. beyond the lighthouse.

 Tims tour watched as male Gannets collect kelp and seaweed for nest building. They gather it up from the beach and fly to the colony on the end of the Spit, sometimes only to have a neighbouring Gannet, usually female, steal it from under them. These birds could be starting to nest a bit later than the others or maybe repairing storm damage to existing nests.

28th of September is the date we expect to see some of the waders that have returned here from their breeding grounds in the arctic circle.

Well we didn’t see any Godwits on the 28th of Sept. this year but we did see some Turnstones about halfway along the ocean beach whilst we were returning from an afternoon visit to the Gannet Colony at the end of the spit.

The Godwits showed up for the first time in the fiest week of October. Small flocks spread along the beach looking skinny and worn out.