Something keeps drawing me back to the South Coast.
All perfectly weather-cocked into the breeze
Sadly, my hopes are not always fulfilled. I arrived in Owhiro Bay yesterday and saw hundreds of Black-backed gulls (Larus dominicanus). It seems to be a nursery area for this particular type of gull. As I drove into the Bay area, I noticed a large portion of the flock bobbing in formation out on the water.
Washing in fresh water
Parking the car, I got the long lens out and in my best stealth mode crept closer. From the little bridge across the Owhiro Stream, I got a view down into the part of the nursery where many juveniles were enjoying a good splash in the only unpiped stream on the South Coast of Wellington.
A wider but closer view of the nursery
One careful step after another, and trying to impersonate a non-threatening lamp-post, I got closer to the birds on the shore.
Blind panic
Disaster! One step too many, and to my dismay the flock took flight. I am dismayed because no birder worth his or her salt will ever deliberately cause the birds to fly from a place where they should be safe. On the other hand, since they were airborne, I had to take the shot (in fact, many shots). It was quite a spectacle.
Where did everybody go? What’s happening
When the noise stopped there were a few birds left on the beach. I try not to anthropomorphize too much, but I had to wonder whether they were sneering at the panic-stricken flight of the others, or were they perhaps short-sighted, hard of hearing or simply unaware of what was going on.
Something else tomorrow.
* with apologies to Rober Hazard and Cyndi Lauper
Definitely quite a sight!