Royal spoonbill (Kotuku-ngutupapa)

A grey, wet day.

Farmers market for venison, bacon and apples.
Returned a dud buy from Warehouse.
Coffee and a browse around a craft show running this weekend.
Home via local milkbar to pick the winning lotto ticket !!!!! and as we passed the local inlet there was this beautiful bird. Braked quite hard and made my passenger gasp as I swung into the carpark in order to get this days blip.

All worth it. There are only about 225 of these royal beauties in our neck of the woods. They are normally seen on tidal mudflats round the coast and nest on nearby islands. This would be about the 6th sighting for me in the past 10-12 years.