Tasman Every Day

I like the greys and blacks in this photo, with the only bits of colour provided by the red of the beak, the feet and the eye ring. This is a red-billed gull (Larus novaehollandiae), New Zealand’s most common coastal gull.

Skylark or pipit, it can be hard to tell. They’re both streaky brown birds, roughly the same size, who like hanging out in the same habitats. Pipits are more strongly striped, and the dark stripe through the eye generally distinguishes it from the skylark. But how do you tell unless you have them side by side? I was leaning towards skylark (Alauda arvensis) because I’m pretty sure this can in no way be called a strong eye stripe, but nzbirdsonline.org.nz gives more hints. Skylarks crouch and fly when disturbed (as opposed to the walking or running behaviour of pipits) and the photo caught this skylark as he was starting to crouch. And fly.

These pukeko (Porphyrio melanotus) were stalking a paddock on Staples Street. Pukeko are often said to have “complex social behaviours”.

This spur-winged plover (Vanellus miles) was determined to drive the harrier (Circus approximans) away from the paddock where the plover likely had eggs or chicks the harrier had been eyeing up. I like the way this photo shows the clear demarcation between the light and dark feathers on the undersides of the plover’s wings.

Male blackbirds (Turdus merula) are distinctive because of their really black plumage, but sometimes they have random white patches, which this male seems to have around his eye. The blackbird was introduced to New Zealand in the 19th century and they’ve spread pretty much everywhere. They’re common in gardens and parks, farms and forests. Female blackbirds are brown rather than black and can be distinguished from the similarly-shaped song thrush (Turdus philomelos) in that they’re a darker brown and don’t have brown speckles on their chests, like thrushes do.

The green and yellow of the lichens on these fence posts are a gentle contrast to the black, dark brown, light brown and lighter brown of these sparrows (Passer domesticus). The chunky bill on the male in the foreground is black, indicating that he’s a breeding male.

Apart from the distinctive plume, male California quail (Callipepla californica) have the most spectacular markings. There’s no difference between breeding and non-breeding plumage, so this guy looks this good throughout the year. Male quail can sound like a squeaky dog toy, though, which kind is of at odds with his feathery elegance.

California quail (Callipepla californica) are abundant in the Tasman District. These quail were part of a large group running along Horton Road, near Tasman. A really large group, probably close to two dozen. There’s a bit of a wetland at the end of the flat part of Horton Road and it provides shelter for a lot of different bird species. I’ve seen a pheasant cock around there, loads of pukeko, a flock of domestic geese and many kingfishers.

From a distance, the extra-long bill of the shoveler (Anas rhynchotis) gives it away as not your usual grey/mallard duck. From the front (sorry, couldn’t get close enough), the bill has a strong spoon-like appearance. Not the soup spoon of the royal spoonbill, more like a dessert spoon. Anyway, these guys feed by filtering water and mud through their bills. The female looks a lot like a grey duck or mallard female, but the bill is the giveaway. The markings on males, though, are distinctive, with their yellow eyes, blue-grey head and white stripe along the edge of the bill. Whenever I’ve seen a shoveler, there’s been only one bird, so I’ve formed this theory that there’s just one shoveler that moves all around the country. Such a lone shoveler would be very old. But nzbirdsonline.org.nz has photos of multiple shovelers, together, disproving that theory.