Leucistic feral pigeon

My regular Friday off. S was having a yoga lesson at home. I decided I could use that time to have a blood test, walk around Western Springs Lake with the camera, and see the damage, and get some supplies from Farro in Grey Lynn.

One of the first sights was this leucistic pigeon. Doesn't make it look any more attractive.

Quite a distance away from where I was and across a wide inlet from the main lake, a small group of shags were in some trees. At least one was clearly a Kawau paka (Lttle Pied Shag). The one in my extra for today appears to be a Little Black Shag (Kawau tui), but its beak gives it away. The juvenile Kawau paka is all black, and has a yellow beak, whereas Kawau tui has a grey beak, and is all black.

On my circuit around the main Western Springs Lake, I saw five big trees partially or totally blown over. The paths have been cleared of debris, and in only place was a big tree on the path. There was nothing to suggest that the grassed areas by the lake had been flooded. In other parts of the city, and particularly in the northwest closer to the west coast, roads are closed, or at best reduced to one way in many places. Power is still disconnected for tens of thousands of homes. Mobile phones are subject to not connecting because of the damage to the electricity supply to the towers.

And the sobering truth is that here in Auckland we have not suffered as widely or as severely as have those on the east coast around Napier and Gisborne.The community of Wairoa south of Napier is completely cut off by road, has lost communication, and water supply is tenuous.