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Tutukaka Land Care - Bringing back the birds to the Tutukaka Coast

Trapping stoats, rats and possums on the Tutukaka Coast to bring back the kiwi and other birds. Read all the stories here.

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Whimbrels

Asiatic whimbrel, Ngunguru sandspit, Northland, December 2016. Photograph by Scott Brooks, New Zealand Birds OnlineWhimbrels are large shorebirds which migrate to New Zealand from Arctic breeding grounds in small numbers. Most records are during the summer but a few birds occasionally overwinter.

In New Zealand they typically associate with bar-tailed godwits, from which they differ in being darker, having a striped head and a strongly down-curved bill.

Whimbrels are somewhat larger than bar-tailed godwits and recognisable by their down-curved bill and pale stripe down the centre of crown. They are mottled dark brown above, pale below, with much brown streaking on the throat and breast. The head is conspicuously striped, with a pale eyebrow stripe separating the dark eye-stripe and side-crown, and another pale stripe down the centre of the crown. The rump and back pattern is very variable, ranging from largely white with some brown mottling, to heavily streaked brown appearing almost all dark at a distance.

Voice: a distinctive seven note whistle: ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti.

Whimbrels have been seen recently in the Ngunguru estuary. About 70 whimbrels occur in New Zealand annually. The East Asian-Australasian Flyway population is estimated at 55,000. Numbers are thought to be declining.

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Tutukaka Kiwi – Christmas Update

Meri Kirihimete! Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings! Our Tutukaka Kiwi are all keeping us on our toes with four more Kiwi gals to keep an eye on and Harry playing Houdini - here is an update on [Read More]

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