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Welcome to the Midnight Collective Broadsheet 41

Actively supporting NZ’s endangered wetland birds

Enclosure Bay West - Hauraki Gulf vista

We have moved territory for a few days to this idyllic sanctuary - Enclosure Bay, on the north coast of Waiheke Island looking out to the Hauraki Gulf. Here lie some of our most important conservation islands, including Little Barrier and Tiritiri Matenga.

Enclosure Bay East Hauraki Gulf vista

And we were immediately back in the business of observing parera and mallard. Parera or parera-cross birds seem very rare here in Auckland, but these two turned up as a threesome early on our first morning. 

Female parera-cross - green wing and grey legs the give away

The female has teamed with a mallard mate, but seemed to be keeping her options open with a parera-cross male hanging around. Though smaller than the mallard and regularly given the heave ho by the larger male, he remained  persistent in his courting,  returning the next day, despite being seen off by the mallard.

Parera male colouring is similar to the female (often a little darker) which means the males are often confused with females, both parera and  mallards.  The easiest way to identify them is when they are paired up.  Behaviour gives them away. The pair act like an inseparable  couple, the male strutting around like a male and while a green headed male mallard will try and subdue a female into partnership, he  would never seek to drive her away. This is what this mallard does to the parera-cross (they're not pure bred parera) in the video we will try and post  tomorrow -(we are filing  on the run and don't have access to wifi, and battery power is running low.)

Will get part 2 out tomorrow (or thereabouts), courtesy of the very convivial Waiheke Public Library and a battery charge - Oh and the weather's been pretty sulky , so far...as compared to Kapiti...which has had uninterrupted sunny spring weather since our departure!