Only 10m away

It has been quite a while since I swept the deck to remove the leaves, seeds and twigs which fall from the pohutukawa trees. I anticipated it being a long job, and it ended up taking much of the day. I did take a long break for lunch and a book.

The tide was kind; high tide was just before 2 pm. That meant that when I had finished (as much as I wanted to do) it was about 3 hours after the tide began to ebb. Not many waders, other than a few white faced heron. The one I have included as an extra was successful a cople of times in catching something to eat.

Kawaupaka (Little Shag) are the smallest of the shags in New Zealand. This one was sitting on an oyster shell covered reef extending out into the mudflats; it is a common resting place for Kawaupaka, and another one was on the reef in the background, just off to the right. I was surprised that I had managed to get so close; my next move did lead to them both flying away.