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Published: November 19th 2008
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On the way along Lake Hawea we stopped on the shores for a coffee and a sandwich. The lake was massive and deep blue, with sandy shores and surrounded on all sides by snow capped peaks. I though I’d investigate the shores and brave the wind to look for some wildlife. Within 5 minutes I heard the distinctive alarm call of a Banded Dotterel. This is a small and beautifully marked wading bird, no bigger than a large apple. I’d obviously strayed to near the scrape in the ground that it considered its nest. The brave little bird walked straight towards me, screeching and raising its wing as if it was injured to draw me away from the eggs. I scoured the area trying to locate the eggs which are incredibly camouflaged. I finally found them, made a mental note of the location and went back to the van to fetch Pili and my video camera.
Back at the nest site with Pili I asked her to find the bird and the nest, I pointed straight at them but still she couldn’t see them. Nature never ceases to amaze me, Pili was blown away at the camouflage and was quite
moved by the display from the female bird as it again tried to lure us away by acting injured. This is remarkable behaviour and very common among all species of shore nesting birds, it must be irresistible to a predator.
We filmed for a while and then left the Dotterel in peace. As we walked along the shore we found several other family groups of Dotterel. These birds had chicks with them. On sighting us the pebble paterned chicks scattered and the parent birds started with the injured act until we were at a safe distance then flew off, just brilliant.
Back on the road we admired the rest of Lake Hawea; the photos can’t do just to the colour of the waters here. We made to brief visits to Fantail Falls & Thunder Creek Falls, stunning but just too many sand flies. However we did stay a little longer at the ‘Gates of Haast and the impressive ‘Wills River’ roaring through the valley. The whole area is framed with massive hills covered in thick, untouched forest. You just know looking at this area that no man has put a foot in most of these forests; I wonder
what mystery animals live in this terrain, many never even seeing mankind. There is still plenty of undiscovered wildlife out here, no doubt about it.
Our biggest treat of the day was still to come unbeknown to us. We came across Monroe Beach on the map; it was labelled as the ‘Fiordlands Crested Penguin’ colony. We pulled into the car park and the signs said that it was an hour walk through the forest to the beach and the colony. By now the rain was really coming down. I suggested I cook dinner and give it an hour to see if it dries up. Sure enough after we’d eaten the clouds parted. It was now 7pm and we also had to find somewhere to camp for the night. With this in mind we power treked through the forest. We got to the colony in just over 35 minutes. As we arrived we saw our first penguin coming out of the surf. Conditions were perfect as the sun was setting behind us so that the penguin couldn’t see our approach as they were blinded by the sun. In a little over an hour we saw a good dozen of these
very rare birds. I managed to get within 20ft of them without alarming them. I also ran into two other wildlife photographers, they’d been sat on the beach all day being chewed by sandflys. It must have pissed them off a little that I arrive just when they come ashore. To be honest if they had studied these birds they’d have known they were wasting their time hanging around all day. The penguins feed all day at sea then relieve their mate on the nest in the evening so that they can go and feed during the night, you get an hours action before dusk, that’s it.
As we were leaving two more birds started to come ashore. Of course we’d broke cover and the penguins saw us and stayed at sea. The two other guys started to move towards them to get more shots. This pisses me off, it’s crossing the line. The pictures are not important if you have to stress the subjects to get them. I told them my feelings and ordered them politely off the beach to let the penguins do their penguin stuff. Of course I also reminded them of the importance of non
Faking injury
Waders often do this to draw predators away from the nest, looks like an easy meal. interference if you want a natural behaviour to photograph; they agreed with me sheepishly, my work was done!
Not my problem, we got some amazing photos and film, Pili’s getting really good with the video camera. The flies weren’t too bad as we’d covered ourselves with repellent; it seems to have worked thank god.
Very happy with this splendid evening we headed of to the campsite at Lake Paringa arriving just as the darkness fell. We ate and snuggled up in bed to dream of our little penguin friends.
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