Red-billed gull/tarāpunga - our most common small gull
The red-billed gull/tarāpunga will be a familiar sight to anyone from Petone or those who walk the lower reaches of the Hutt River. When they are young the legs and beak are darker and they are often confused with our rare black-billed gull. Unfortunately, the numbers of these native gulls have been declining rapidly since the mid-90s, in some places by as much as 50%. We are managing to turn this around though with recent predator control in some areas seeing their numbers stabilising or slightly increasing. The one here on the rock at the estuary is quite young, you can see his bill is transitioning to the characteristic reddy colour. I call the other photo on the wall at Petone Beach "glitch in the matrix".
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I dance in the sky with green and gold, a spectacle few are lucky to behold; I’m best seen in the south, a celestial sight—what am I, lighting up the New Zealand night?
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