Rangitoto

This morning, we woke up bright and early after spending yesterday recuperating from our 19 hour journey from Victoria to New Zealand. We decided to take a ferry to Rangitoto, one of the small islands off Auckland. Rangatoto is a volcanic island. In fact, it is the most recently active of the 40 volcanoes in the Auckland area.

The island is covered with black volcanic rock and most people who go there make the trek up to the top of the crater. I, however, am not most people. My husband and I chose to walk along the coast trail to the Black-backed (Dominican) Gull breeding ground. I was surprised to learn that there are only three kinds of gulls found in New Zealand. This certainly makes the identification of gulls much easier than what I've experienced in Victoria. The only confusing part seems to be that the young Red-billed Gulls have black bills and the young Black-billed ones have red bills. !!
 

Black-backed Gull

In addition to the gulls, I saw Variable Oystercatchers, Fantails, Shags (also known as Cormorants), a White-faced Heron and a New Zealand Kingfisher to name just a few.



Variable Oystercatcher




North Island Fantail



New Zealand Kingfisher





  




Pied Shag









White-faced Heron