Royal spoonbills/kōtuku ngutupapa

Louise from Woburn

I wasn't going to take any more spoonbill photos for awhile - but this guy walked really close to me. You can see he's looking sideways to do a quick threat assessment, but doesn't stop feeding. Probably decided he could do me over if he had to. It is amazing how many little fish they catch like this. I saw him gobbling several little morsels down, probably slightly bigger than whitebait. They scythe their beaks back and forth like old-time hay gatherers, snapping them shut on tasty things, then quickly tip their heads back to swallow their prey whole. Royal spoonbill/kōtuku ngutupapa (Platalea regia). Between tides/closer to low tide is probably the best time to see them at the Hutt Estuary.

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