Identification

Found this excellent site, the NZ Birds Gallery, which confirms that the birds photographed at Long Bay last weekend were indeed yellowhammers. A very useful and well laid out site.

In other identification news, the jellyfish spotted at Tauwhitokino Bay on 7th October were featured on the front page of the Herald earlier this week. Massive examples of the Lion's Mane jellyfish have been washing up on Great Barrier Island recently, and there was a picture of a 1m plus monster splashed on the front cover on Wednesday (which you can see to the right).

Although the supersized ones are a cause for concern, it was nice to get confirmation that the jellyfish is in fact supposed to have a blobby purple top and yellow skirts, as we were a bit worried they might have all been sick at Tauwhitokino Bay as they look pretty strange.