Dipping in Paradise: Dipping in the Firth of Thames

My alarm woke me at the hideous hour of 4am, a time when sensible birds and people are in bed. The moreporks kept me company while I loaded my scope, camera, binoculars into the boot of my car and set off by 4:30. Picking up my birding companion and best friend Shoshanah on the way, we headed north towards Whangamarino wetland for our first stop. We got out at Falls Road, but rather than hearing the crakes, bitterns and fernbirds that we were expecting, we heard nothing but the whine of mosquitoes and a single morepork that was staying up late. Our attempts at silence were punctuated by our attempts to end the insects that were causing us so much grief, to no avail. No time to waste, as the sun was beginning to rise.

Miranda was our next stop, and we were awestruck by the thousands of birds wheeling around our heads as the sky begun to lighten. Pied Stilts, Bar-tailed Godwits and Red Knot were all abundant and vocal, while around thirty Pacific Golden-Plovers were roosting beside the carpark. Not content with these beautiful migrants, we resolved to chase down the Broad-billed Sandpiper that had been making an appearance over the past few weeks. After sifting through masses of birds next to the Stilt Hide, we had seen Wrybill, Turnstone and New Zealand Dotterel, but nothing smaller or broad-billier. Walking further down the track, we were in luck - a Pectoral and a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper were both feeding alongside Banded Dotterels, and we strained our eyes for the Red-necked Stint group that the broadie had been hanging out with.

Another hour of searching, and no luck. We trudged back to the Godwit hide and were astounded by the closeness of the birds now that the tide had receded - Shoshanah managed to pick out the three Far Eastern Curlew that had been overwintering, a nice consolation prize. No more time to waste, so we drove to the East Piako flood plains to search the flooded stopbank for a Hudsonian Godwit. Out of luck again - we scrutinised each and every godwit and found only Bar-tailed. Another dip.

Undeterred, Thames Bird Hide was our next stop - a crummy, graffitied hut only 300 metres or so from the town centre - surely the least likely spot for good birds. Nevertheless, there were two Brown Teal right outside - pretty good birds! Bracing ourselves for heavy traffic, we were pleasantly surprised to find empty roads up the west coast of the Coromandel peninsula, meaning that we could nab Spotted Shags only a few metres away! Seawatching was fruitless, however, and we had only Australasian Gannets for company - no skua or shearwaters that we expected. All in all we had racked up a spectacular 'dip list' - Curlew Sandpiper, Hudsonian Godwit, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Fluttering Shearwater, Arctic Skua... the list goes on! Regardless, we had a superb morning out and it was a great start to Christmas.