The heron's stream

 

A white-faced heron has made its hunting grounds a stretch of the Opanuku Stream which flows past our retirement village.  I have often seen it hunting in the shallows around the old Henderson Mill. A water wheel there provided the power for the sawmill that started operation around 1849. Only a smaller, replica wheel now rests in the river, unmoving, and causes the heron no concern.

     

The heron has chosen well.  The shallows provide the perfect place to snap up the small fish that make up much of it's diet.  

I've seen the heron many times as I crossed the bridge and have watched it often, if only for a minute or so.  It's a beautiful bird. 

Today's post will show you some photos I've taken of it, and of a few other birds as well, which stop by this stretch of the stream fairly often for a bath or a drink or to peer at a photographer....

These pictures were all taken during the first two weeks of January, 2022.  

I like this next photo of the heron especially.  It reminds me (sort of) of the three views mechanical drawings require.

But mine is more exciting...Life, reflection and shadow fully describe this heron.  

Just upstream, this log looks to me, when I squint a bit, like a snake entering the water and gives the place a wild feeling.  (There are no real snakes in NZ)

I am very pleased to have captured the next two pictures.  

Just before I started taking pictures of the heron, I saw the water in the stream suddenly start to 'move'. I looked closer and could see thousands of tiny fish darting around just under the surface. (These fish are actually about two hundred yards downstream from the shallows and the birds shown in this post)  

I did some research later and learned that these are very likely to be whitebait. Whitebait actually describes five species of fish that move up streams like this one in the spring/summer, usually during the day and on a high tide, exactly the conditions I was seeing today.  

Our friend is on the hunt...

I was lucky to get some shots of fish in its beak.  

After feeding for a while, it moved across the stream and worked some shadier spots there.  

While the heron went off to do some grooming, I took a few shots of these red-billed gulls. That is the adult in the background and the juvenile up front.  

Another juvenile took a bath while the adults looked on.

A myna stopped by momentarily for a drink. You know, mynas never look happy.  Maybe  if I tell it a joke?

A myna walks into a bar.

He sits down and asks the bartender, "Hey, you got any bread?"

The bartender replies, "No, sorry."

The myna waits for a few seconds and again asks, "Got any bread?"

The bartender says angrily, "No, we have no bread."

The bird asks again, "Do you have any bread?" 

The bartender replies furiously, "No, we have no bread and if you ask again, I'm going to nail your beak to the bar!" 

The myna pauses for a minute, then he asks, "Got any nails?" 

The bartender replies, "No, we have no nails."

So the myna asks, "You got any bread?"  

Nope, didn't work, couldn't get a smile out of him. Maybe he's heard it before. (He could at least have chuckled politely, like you do.)  What a grouch....

...And by the way Mr. Myna, that's a really dopey haircut you have there. Looks like a bad toupee.  

Here is a Muscovy duck hybrid that paddled by one morning about 8 a.m. (This one injured a foot/leg some time back.  I've watched it hobble very slowly along for a couple of weeks now, when it's out of the water. I hope it improves/survives.) 

I took this picture about a week after the first one. It is almost unable to walk at all now.  I wonder if its going to make it.   

Later that morning, mom pukeko and her pukekettes strolled the bank.  (I am just assuming this is mom. Male and female look very similar, so I can't really tell. The male is slightly larger than the female.)

A few days after I took the pictures above, I got the chance to see the whole family at meal time.  Dad had apparently just come home and had picked up an apple takeaway for dinner. 

Pukekos aren't much for polite dinner conversation.  

This is I think, a juvenile tui.  He is a little out of focus because he thrust his head forward just as I clicked.  

He's holding still for this one, but you can't see the Jimmy Durante 'nose' as well from this angle.  

Our visit with the heron is almost over. 

The heron seemed to sense that I was about to pack up my camera and leave. It gave me a final very formal bow.  I had not realized herons had so much of the performer in them.  

"Bravo, bravo....."  

As I shot picture after picture of the activity on the stream bed below, this pigeon landed on the railing of the bridge.  I saw it first as it landed about 10 feet away from me, and then slowly but surely it approached.  I took its picture when it was about a foot away. It seemed curious.  After I snapped this shot, I turned my camera down to the stream again and the pigeon stayed where it was for about another 30 seconds. Then flew off.  (Too bad it doesn't have a computer, I could have sent it this picture.)  

The little shed in the background houses some gears connected to the water wheel.   -djf