I don’t recall seeing any Kōtuku Ngutupapa (Royal Spoonbill, Platelea regia) as a kid. I do remember the excitement the first time my father told me he had seem some at the Pāuatahanui Inlet. It must have been around 20 years ago. Now they can often be spied there.

This photo was taken in a spot where my father often used to pull the car over to the side of the road if there were any birds in “the bowl”, as he called the tidal pool here. At the eastern end of Grays Road, this is the earliest “bird watching” spot I can remember.