Friday, October 06, 2006

Tahuna Torea Nature Reserve - 7th Oct. 2006

Today we went to Tahuna Torea Nature Reserve and did the walk around the reserve and out along the spit.

The walk starts at the carpark at the eastern end of West Tamaki Rd in Glen Innes. Below is the pond by the carpark which is frequented by a lot of birds, including ducks, pukeko and cormorants.

We took the Upper Bush walk which heads off to the Godwit Lookout, below.

There are a series of lagoons along the waterfront, frequented by godwits (I think?)

We walked out along the spit on the loop back to the car. As the tide was out you could walk about three-quarters of the way across the estuary to Bucklands Beach. The part of the spit that doesn't get submerged is covered in foliage, including yellow and pink flowers of the type below on the northern side, and tussock on the southern.

As you can see it was damn windy on the return side of the spit.

To finish off I was determind to get a pic of a pukeko before we put our muddy shoes and Tevas in the boot and headed home.

All in all a good mostly flat walk, with lots of different areas, birds and flora. Took us about an hour and a half, including the walk out to the end of the spit, stops for photo taking, and a break for a chocolate and water refuel.



1 comment:

Unknown said...

Your third photo shows a Pied Stilt. The Godwits come through Tahuna Torea between November and March usually, so you might have been too early to see them. Pukekos are lovely gangly creatures, aren't they?