As morning broke....

.....hot shades along the horizon looked stunning against cold blue/grey tones of the sea while more mellow shades hovered above the snow capped Puketeraki Range and the Ashley Rakahuri Estuary. Loved the light and the reminder that winter is still with us as morning broke, it was crisp and calm.

Birds, just a few - oyster catchers squawking as they do, Canada geese and black swans flying by, terns and shags headed out to sea and gulls just caused endless commotion and noise as they chased others for fish. Tiny red-banded dotterels ran along the sand while good numbers of wrybills were fossicking amongst river stones. 

Wrybills are starling-sized plovers and the only birds in the world with the tips of their bills curving to the right. With wings the colour of river stones among which they breed, and with shell-white breasts, wrybills are well camouflaged on riverbeds and mudflats. They arrive at the Ashley river mouth just as whitebait season starts in mid-August before moving up the river to breed during September. The window of opportunity to see them is small, so you can imagine the delight of seeing 11 this morning. Other years there have been sightings of smaller numbers 2 or 3, this year looks like there's three larger sized groups.

Wonderful to have blippers  mpp26 and Daring2Go with me this morning. We found a space to do our own thing then ambled together along the beach enjoying the morning and each other's company, thanks ladies.

My blip today is of a wrybill enjoying a morning stretch balanced on one leg and a few extras to show the environment, colours and light, such a beautiful morning, to hard to choose just one blip.

Enjoy the weekend, looks to be a warm one round these parts :)