There are only about 150-200 white heron/kōtuku (Ardea alba modesta) in New Zealand, and there’s at least one who is a regular visitor to the Motueka estuary. It’s been named “Eric” by the proprietor of Samaritas By The Sea, a food and coffee caravan at the marina. There’s only one breeding colony in New Zealand, in the Waitangiroto Nature Reserve north of the Okarito Lagoon in South Westland. Kōtuku eat small fish, frogs, insects, mice and small birds. A stuff.co.nz article from last year describes a kōtuku feeding voraciously on silvereyes. The kōtuku became so practiced with this food source that it took to drowning its prey in a puddle before swallowing them down. That was nearby, at Kaihoka in Golden Bay, but I’m sure it wasn’t Eric, he’s just so beautiful. Then again, look at that stabby beak.
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