There are two types of gulls found in the Wellington region. The small Red-billed kind – compact, pristine and glamorous. You will see them anywhere near the sea in small groups. If there is a chance of scraps from humans there will be a local pecking order firmly established..
The other kind is the much larger – but fortunately more reticent - Black Backed Gull. Although only the adults are black backed and the juveniles are mud coloured. But juvenile or not they are good sized birds, very similar in appearance and call to the herring gulls found in UK. I was looking at a discarded wing feather the other day and it was a fair bit longer than my shoe.
From our vantage point on the Brooklyn ridge, the gulls daily routine can be observed. In the morning they head south, down the valley, heading for the landfill. Hundreds of them can be seen wheeling above it like snow flakes. And in the evening a ragged and well-fed procession flaps back towards the city centre. Where, I guess, they spend their nights roosting on man-made cliff tops. Worth considering for anyone thinking of buying an apartment in the centre.
But they don’t spend all their day at the dump. If you go to Owhiro Bay in the middle of the day you will see where they all hang out when they have gorged on the food that human Wellingtonians throw away. There is a stream here which normally forms a lagoon at the top of the beach. A perfect spot to take on fresh water, rinse the smell of rubbish off your plumage and then retire to sit on a rock, digesting and socialising.
In the photo you can also see a much rarer bird – a reef heron. (Unless is it is a melanistic form of the common White Faced Heron?) I have seen one (the same one probably) here before. They have a peculiar way of feeding which we observed down in Golden Bay. It will crouch down in shallow water, imitating a Kiwi or more probably a lump of driftwood, until it sees some prey – and then a long neck suddenly flashes out from the huddled, un-heron blob, like the strike of a venomous snake.
The other kind is the much larger – but fortunately more reticent - Black Backed Gull. Although only the adults are black backed and the juveniles are mud coloured. But juvenile or not they are good sized birds, very similar in appearance and call to the herring gulls found in UK. I was looking at a discarded wing feather the other day and it was a fair bit longer than my shoe.
From our vantage point on the Brooklyn ridge, the gulls daily routine can be observed. In the morning they head south, down the valley, heading for the landfill. Hundreds of them can be seen wheeling above it like snow flakes. And in the evening a ragged and well-fed procession flaps back towards the city centre. Where, I guess, they spend their nights roosting on man-made cliff tops. Worth considering for anyone thinking of buying an apartment in the centre.
But they don’t spend all their day at the dump. If you go to Owhiro Bay in the middle of the day you will see where they all hang out when they have gorged on the food that human Wellingtonians throw away. There is a stream here which normally forms a lagoon at the top of the beach. A perfect spot to take on fresh water, rinse the smell of rubbish off your plumage and then retire to sit on a rock, digesting and socialising.
In the photo you can also see a much rarer bird – a reef heron. (Unless is it is a melanistic form of the common White Faced Heron?) I have seen one (the same one probably) here before. They have a peculiar way of feeding which we observed down in Golden Bay. It will crouch down in shallow water, imitating a Kiwi or more probably a lump of driftwood, until it sees some prey – and then a long neck suddenly flashes out from the huddled, un-heron blob, like the strike of a venomous snake.
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