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Description:
Large black swan with white tipped crimson beak displaying a lot of white on the wings
in flight.
Noisy laborious takeoff with wing tips striking the water.
Pleasant bugling calls.
Can be a solitary nester but often colonial.
Feeds in shallow water by upending to crop submerged plants, but also grazes pasture.
Habitat:
Prefers larger ponds and lakes.
Size:
Description:
Large brown goose with black head and neck and obvious white cheeks and chin.
Disliked by farmers as they graze grass, and leave behind droppings.
Popular game bird and in spite of 30,000 + being shot each year are increasing in numbers.
Habitat:
Present on bodies of water as small as Henley Lake size and as large as Lake Wairarapa.
Fly in a V formation and have a "honking" call.
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:
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:
A summer visiting Arctic migrant.
Body length similar to but heavier with longer legs.
Head and back mottled brown, buff and cream.
Underparts pale buff with indistinct breast mottling.
Short black beak. Late autumn may show breeding plumage of black face and underparts
and black, gold and white wings and back.
Habitat:
Feeds both on grassland and tidal flats.
Description:
Grey brown mottled upper parts with whitish underparts, short straight black beak
and relatively short legs for a wader.
Active, bustling shorebird reminescent of a .
Uses its sturdy beak to probe under objects and will flick over stones
to catch prey.
Some individuals develop the distinctive breeding plumage in autumn
with bright rusty face and underparts.
Habitat:
Beaches, wave platforms, mudflats.
A regular summer visiting Arctic wader to Lake Wairarapa,
commonly associating with the much bigger .
Description:
One of New Zealand's unique and unusual birds, with
a sideways-bent beak.
Habitat:
Small flocks occasionally encountered at lake Wairarapa in winter.
Sometimes a lone bird accompanies a flock of other shorebirds.
Description:
A stocky Arctic wader with strong straight black beak.
About the same body length as a but much thicker body and longer legs.
Head and upper parts light grey brown with pale feather edges.
Underparts dull white with dull green legs.
In autumn, distinctive rusty red head and under parts heralds development
of breeding plumage.
Habitat:
Beaches, estuary mudflats, lake edge.
Frequents edge of Lake Wairarapa, often in company of which is twice as large.
Sometimes seen on the lake side. |
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Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
Australasian Harrier
(Circus approximans)
Pukeko (Porphyrio porphyrio)
Spur-winged Plover (Vanellus novaehollandiae)
Pied Stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus)
Banded Dotterel (Charardrius bicinctus)
Pacific Golden Plover
(Pluvialis fulva)
Turnstone
(Arenaria interpres)
Wrybill
(Anarhynchus frontalis)
Lesser Knot
(Calidris canutus)