Tāwharanui

Sunday I’m up at five and out to Tāwharanui for a spot of birding in the wind and rain.

As always, Tāwharanui is enchanting in any conditions.

I track more than thirty bird species: spur wing plover, kāruhiruhi | pied cormorant, kawaupaka | little pied cormorant, pūkeko | swamp hen, manu pango | blackbird, thrush, maina | myna, matuku | heron, tōrea | oystercatcher, pūtangitangi | paradise shellduck, takapū | gannet, tarā nui | caspian tern, tarāpunga | red-billed gull, karoro | black backed gull, kererū | wood pigeon, tīeke | saddleback, tūī | parson bird, kōtare | kingfisher, tiu | sparrow, pōpokatea | whitehead, kākā | bush parrot, tūturiwhatu | dotterel, korimako | bellbird, pīwakawaka | fantail, warou | swallow, tītī | muttonbird, kaireka | skylark, kāhu | hawk, goldfinch, yellowhammer, ruru | morepork…

I head to Anchor Bay then up the South Coast track, bumping into tākahe | notornis en route, then cut down through an unmarked gully, past wasp-infested fresh dead rabbit, onto a trapline, cutting across the peninsula through the ecology area and back to the main farm road, and up to Takatū Point for petrol station bacon and egg sandwiches.

I head back along a precarious trapline to the farm track, back down through the South Coast track and the Ecology track to North Cove, around the headland at low tide over the pyroclastic flows and through sea caves, back across Anchor Bay to the car.

It’s a solid 17-and-a-bit kilometres, with 450-or-so metres of elevation and about 2,800 photos, trimmed back to my favourite 80-odd.