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Description:
Our largest shag which is found worldwide.
Appears black at a distance with yellowish facial skin and white cheeks.
In sunlight wing feathers are coppery-bronze.
They bring catch to the surface where fish are juggled until it can be swallowed head-first.
Habitat:
Commonly seen on rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters actively diving for prey.
Size:
Description:
Small black and white shag with varying amounts of white on cheeks,
throat and underparts.
Some adults are entirely black, but much smaller than .
Distinguished from (much less common) by short stubby yellow beak.
Dries wings like and often shares nesting colony with them.
Habitat:
Found on ponds, lakes, rivers and sheltered coastal waters.
Size:
Description:
Our commonest heron.
Blue grey plumage with obvious white face often called "blue heron".
Nests (not necessarily near water) high in trees (often pine, macrocarpa or eucalyptus).
Harsh "kraak kraak" call heard more often when breeding.
Habitat:
Commonly solitary and seen on the irrigated pastures of dairy farms,
but also rocky coasts, estuaries, lake margins, and rivers.
Size:
Description:
Our commonest duck.
Male has dark iridescent glossy green head separated by a white ring from chestnut breast
grey brown body with black tail and rump.
Female is brown with variable darker eye stripe.
Inner trailing wing feathers (speculum) are blue in contrast to
(with which female can be confused) which has a green speculum.
Characteristically "quacking" ducks which dabble on surface for food.
Flocks can cause damage to pea and cereal crops.
Habitat:
Seen on most bodies of water.
Size:
Description:
Large brown hawk.
Food is a mix of live prey - small birds, rabbits and a lot of road killed carrion
(possums, hares, hedgehogs).
Wary birds and avoid humans.
Habitat:
Usually seen soaring singly over farmland, open country or swamps.
Commonly patrols roads and a lot of young birds killed by cars.
Size:
Description:
Small grey brown partridge with black throat outlined below with white crescent and
forward curving crest plume.
Found in family groups and display noisy whirring flight if startled.
Male has three syllable call "where are you-where are you"
Large clutches of 12 or more eggs laid on ground under cover.
Chicks may be seen running in single file following a parent.
Habitat:
Frequents willow, broom, gorse, blackberry patches along rivers.
Description:
Large bird with deep blue underparts, bright red beak and frontal shield,
black upper parts with white under tail displayed by tail flicking as it walks.
Harsh screaming call.
Flies clumsily with legs trailing but tends more often to run away if disturbed.
Grazes pasture and may hold some vegetable matter by one foot and eat
"parrot fashion".
Also takes frogs, insects and even small ducklings.
Habitat:
Frequently seen in family groups foraging within the vicinity of water.
Size:
Description:
Black cap, brown back and wings, white underparts with bright yellow facial wattles
(like a plastic mask).
Strident rattling unmistakable calls.
Slow deliberate wing beats in flight.
Are early nesters from May onwards on open ground.
Defends nest aggressively against the , and humans.
Habitat:
Conspicuous birds of open country and farmland.
Size:
Description:
Distinctive black and white wader with long pink spindly legs which trail
prominently when flying.
Nests often singly on river beds or as small colonies on muddy paddocks with some shallow water
(often where stock have eaten out choumollier winterfeed).
Vigorously defends nest and chicks against humans and the .
Rapid "yapping" cries as they harmlessly attack you.
Habitat:
Seen on rivers, lakes and pond margins.
Size:
Description:
A starling-sized brown bird with white underparts on which are black throat and
reddish-chestnut bands.
Defends nesting territory vigorously against dotterels of same species.
Habitat:
Inhabits sandy beaches and stony riverbeds.
Size:
Description:
Arrived in the Wairarapa in the 1960s via the Hawkes Bay where they first colonized from Australia.
Today, our region has about 20% of the national population.
Smaller than .
Brown upper parts with white throat and belly.
Black forehead, eye stripe, and V on breast.
Red beak with black tip.
Slow jerky flight shows white on the wings.
Sharp "pit-pit-pit" call in flight.
When the Ruamahanga floods, birds are forced off
the riverbed and into Henley.
Here they can be seen feeding around the lap strip of the Lake
and in the muddy margins of wetland ponds.
Habitat:
Feeds on muddy margins of rivers and streams.
Hard to see until they move.
About 25 pairs nest within 5 km of the Gladstone Bridge. Size: |
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Black Shag (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Little Shag (Phalacrocorax melanoleucos)
White-faced Heron (Ardea novaehollandiae)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
Australasian Harrier
(Circus approximans)
Californian Quail
(Lophortyx californicus)
Pukeko (Porphyrio porphyrio)
Spur-winged Plover (Vanellus novaehollandiae)
Pied Stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus)
Banded Dotterel (Charardrius bicinctus)
Black-fronted Dotterel (Charardrius melanops)