Wrybill near Wellington? (1 Viewer)

Hello, I will be visiting Wellington for 2 days at the end of October 2010. The purpose of the visit is to see a friend, but as a birdo I must make every trip a birding opportunity. Is there anywhere within a day's drive of Wellington where I would have a reasonable chance of seeing a Wrybill? I don't want to go as far as Miranda but I'm completely unfamiliar with the North Island so I don't know where else I could go. Thank you!!

birds of Waikanae estuary New Zealand

Birds of Waikanae estuary New Zealand
I had an e-mail from a guy at Peka Peka to tell me he had a bird he couldn’t identify, nesting at the side of his driveway. It is a black-fronted dotterel which, chose to place its nest just at the side of the drive about a meter from the vehicles using it. The bird was first noticed doing the broken wing ploy in front of a car and then its nest was discovered.
I went to see it, parked my car with the window down meters away from the nest and until I had it pointed out, couldn’t see it. It was so well camouflaged amongst the stones and the brave bird stayed so still. It was sitting on two eggs which again, after it flew off, were really hard to see. These birds were self introduced from Australia in the 1950s and have spread from the Hawke’s Bay area to the Wairarapa and to the top of the South Island. It is good to see them nesting on the Kapiti Coast. They have been documented previously, as having been seen at our estuary reserve.

For more info on my monthly newsletter with a hit rate of over 11000 per month click on to
http://www.kapitibirdtours.co.nz/News.htm

merry_mary said:

Hello, I will be visiting Wellington for 2 days at the end of October 2010. The purpose of the visit is to see a friend, but as a birdo I must make every trip a birding opportunity. Is there anywhere within a day's drive of Wellington where I would have a reasonable chance of seeing a Wrybill? I don't want to go as far as Miranda but I'm completely unfamiliar with the North Island so I don't know where else I could go. Thank you!!

Click to expand...

hi, you're very unlikely to see wrybill around Wellington, not least because they will all be off breeding in inland South Island in October. However for other birds, the Waikanae Estuary is good for water-loving birds including NZ little grebe; Karori Sanctuary is a fenced reserve in the centre of Wellington (well, sort of centre) where you can see many endemic forest birds, including little spotted kiwi if you do the night tour (note that a number of the endemics including kiwi and takahe are introduced there); Somes Island in the harbour has several native birds as well as Brothers Island tuatara (introduced) and four species of endemic lizard, and you've got a good chance of seeing common dolphins on the boat ride over; you won't have time but Kapiti Island is also fantastic;

EDIT: I just realised the date of the original post, but I'll leave this here for anyone else going there.....