Te Awahou | Foxton Beach, October 2025

Yesterday morning mum, dad, and I headed to the Foxton Beach estuary before the weather set in and the tide had passed.

We arrive a little before eight and are greeted by a flock of hungry kuaka | bar-tailed godwit. Dad and I set to snapping while mum heads for a walk along the river edge.

Dad and I spot matuku | white-faced heron below us as we move to an optimum photography spot. We sight ngutuparore | wrybill and tarā nui | caspian tern and karuhiruhi | pied cormorant and karoro | black-backed gull and tarāpunga | red billed gull and huahou | red knot amongst the kuaka. And something smaller.

It’s hard to tell, but I’m certain we’ve spotted something that’s not tūturiwhatu | dotterel or ngutuparore. As we zoom in, we realise we have our first photographs – albeit fuzzy and distant – of the magnificent red-necked stint. Just a few hundred of these tiny migrants make their way to Aotearoa from Siberia each year, travelling the long flyway with kuaka. What a feat for such a small bird. And what a treat for dad and I.

We wander to Holben Reserve, snapping kōtuku ngutupapa | spoonbill and rakiraki | mallard and pūkeko | swamp hen and warou | swallow and kuruwhengi | shoveller and starling along the way. The pond at the reserve has rakiraki chicks with a healthy dose of pārera | grey duck, tētē | brown teal, domestic duck, and pūtangitangi | paradise shellduck. We spot pāpango | scaup and weweia | dabchick at the inland dune lakes, alongside geese.

We set off just as the rain sets in, a satisfying early Sunday morning mission. Two kilometres, 90 minutes lapsed, and 2,200 photographs.