samuelamaris's Favorites

aha! Finally got this one!

This one had got to #13 on the 'native lepidoptera not seen yet' or #27 of the 'any lepidoptera in NZ not seen yet' search: https://inaturalist.nz/observations?place_id=94916&taxon_id=47157&unobserved_by_user_id=christopherstephens&view=species

First New Zealand record. Saw the bird sheltering behind a small bush for around 30 minutes. It then turned and scurried out of sight behind the cliff face. 5 minutes later the bird was back in the same position behind the bush.

Red-billed Gull x Black-billed Gull Hybrid

The F1 Hybrid

Te Papa specimen

Data and comparison to pure birds are within the observation photos

Originally collected in 1971, by L. Gurr (Louis Gurr)

Bill is shorter than a Black-billed Gull but skinnier than a Red-billed Gull.
An intermediate size/shape of the two.

Primaries show white spots that are larger than a Red-billed Gull's

Bill colour may have detreated slightly, but also appears to be an intermediate colour of the two species.

Last photo shows a comparison with the other hybrid (F1 top).

Had the delight of this wee visitor for nearly 3 days. It is an 'Albino' or 'Leucistic' Silvereye.
The 2nd. photo has a normal colored silvereye on the higher branch and the albino waxeye on the lower branch.

I went back to the Caspian Tern colony far out on the lake bed at the Greenpark Sands end of Lake Ellesmere, hoping this time to get photos without the heat haze. At least 100 pairs are breeding there with most chicks mature enough to be running around in creches like mobile cotton balls drifting across the sand. The whole colony was on edge as the black-backed gulls were trying to snatch chicks, so I got a lot of shots of very angry, alert, aggressively calling adults, and chicks huddled down tight. I tried getting photos of the black-backed gull attacks but they always seemed to be out of range of decent photography as they concentrated on the edges of the colony where defences were weak and there were isolated chicks.

Stoked with this one! We had just started driving out of Awarua Bay on our second and final day searching for New Zealand Dotterels with no luck. We decided to stop on the drive back as there were quite a few birds around, and there happened to be two SNZD feeding together!