The Gift Of Existence

Every day, the extraordinary beauty
of this existence opens herself up
and gives herself as a gift
Let's work together to preserve that gift.

We've had a couple of clear fine mid winter days with a new fall of snow on the mountain. Frosty mornings and cold days with Taranaki standing out crisp and clear in the winter sunshine.  I went for a walk along the beach from Bell Block to the Waiongana river mouth at low tide yesterday hoping to find some New Zealand dotterel which have a nesting site close to the river mouth. You can only do this walk at low tide as the sea comes in and crashes against the cliffs at high tide. The cliffs along this section of coast are constantly eroding.  There are fosillized trees constantly being uncovered as the cliffs erode and at one spot on the beach there was an area of ancient forest floor emerging through the sand with fossilized tree roots embedded in sedimentery rock.

It was a beautiful walk with some great views of Taranaki rising up above the coastal cliffs and I was fortunate to find four NZ dotterel foraging onthe beach as well as getting some good photos of a white faced heron and a kingfisher.

Taranaki rising majestically above the coastal cliffs. New Plymouth airport is just above the cliffs here.

Rocks and waves on the beach

A pair of NZ Dotterel (tuturiwhatu)

A NZ dotterel with its orange breeding plumage starting to appear

NZ Dotterel

A sequence of shots of a white faced heron (matuku moana) taking off.

A New Zealand Sacred Kingfisher (Kotare) perched on some driftwood.  There were several kingfisher foraging in the rock pools at different points along the coast. This was the only one I could get close enough to to get a photo.

The coastal cliffs with Paritutu and the Sugarloaf Islands way off in the distance.