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I didn't have my camera on me, but we have a guest in the harbour.

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This young sea lion came out of the surf and decided to join a picnic. I'm not sure how long these folks waited to get their stuff back, but I doubt it was fast.

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Rāpoka, 2021

A respectful wildlife interaction to kick off 2022. As soon as this sea lion emerged from the water, the dog was brought to heel and they both stayed still as she walked up the beach, was told to leave by another sea lion, and headed back out to sea. The dog was also kept on leash and under control passing all four sleeping sea lions in the dog walking area, including the one on the access path. It was great to see after watching so many close calls.

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Rō, 2021

We barely finished planting this garden before this rō moved in. It’s good to see we didn’t eliminate their habitat when we cleared out the invasive tradescantia.

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Popoiangore (Leopard seal), 2021

This poor baby got woken up by the tide twice while I was there. He’s only about a year old and obviously still learning which parts of the beach will stay dry.

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Titipounamu (rifleman), 2018

New Zealand’s smallest bird

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Korimako (bellbird) on harakeke, 2018

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Pohowera (banded dotterel), 2018

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Kapokapowai (bush giant dragonfly), 2018

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Kāruhiruhi (pied shag) juvenile with plastic wrapper, 2019 As heartbreaking as this was to see, it’s not at all uncommon. This was taken at Zealandia sanctuary - a place with staff, where people don’t stay for more than a day, and where a rubbish bin is never more than about two hours away. Wild places without their own dedicated crew of rangers are worse. It’s unlikely that this particular bird ate the plastic - young shags play with all sorts of things and usually don’t swallow things that aren’t food, but plenty of other critters would.

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Pīwakawaka (fantail) fledgling, 2019 This was a big family - four fledglings. The parent’s done very well indeed to have them all grown up.

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Tuatara, 2019

I’ve been trying to photograph this particular animal for ages. He’s just a baby and he’s very good at hiding just enough that I can’t get a clear shot. If you want a size reference, those are mexican daisies he’s hiding in. Smol friend has a lot of growing to do.

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Technically not damselfly sex.... just foreplay. The male (red) isn’t letting her go, so they fly around like this. Red coat damselfly, 2019. I was unable to find a Māori name for these critters.

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Pohowera (banded dotterel), 2018

I my stats are anything to go by, y’all love these birbs as much as I do. You want more photos? I can 100% do that.

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pārea (grey duck), 2019

This lady had claimed a tiny patch of wetland on a beach and was raising nine ducklings there.

There are no pure bred pārea left in New Zealand - all remaining birds have some degree of mallard genetics. In this one, it was the orange leg. Ducklings were too little to tell.

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Mōhua (yellowhead) feeding fledglings in a beech forest, 2018

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South Island Kaka on harakeke, 2018