Saturday 15 January Twitching

Lighthouse

Ranger's house

Australasian quail

We went twitching today. Yes it is legal, it's the other name for bird watching. We followed the Wattle path up the hill to the light house and visitor centre. Along the path and sometimes board walk there are nectar feeding stations set up for bellbirds and stitchbirds. Then we saw the incredibly rare little spotted kiwi. Until we thought about it a bit more...kiwis are nocturnal and on closer inspection this little chap looked just like a quail, an Australasian quail in fact. The NZ wood pigeon is bigger than the European kind, so big it wouldn't take many to make a pie filling, and it's more boldly coloured.

It's all mine!

At the visitor centre under the light house we signed up for a guided tour tomorrow morning and read the information boards. I passed on the opportunity to buy a Friend of Tiritiri t-shirt, a mug with a kiwi painted on it, a kiwi key fob and a tea towel with the image of a family of kiwis. You get the picture...wall-to-wall kiwis? However, there isn't a café selling kiwi burgers.