Spitting Spotted Shags

Well they don’t actually spit, they barf. They throw up a big pile of stones and nobody knows why for sure.

Hundreds of Spotted Shags (Parekareka), congregate en mass every winter morning just before sunrise on Golden Bay’s Tata Beach, and only on this beach.

I include a disclaimer here- my early photos were taken in virtual darkness, a long exposure & a little bit of processing has made them brighter but the downside of that is the photos are not as sharp as they could be.  Here's how it looked when the shags first started arriving.

Tata Beach is not far from Pohara, nestled between Ligar Bay & the Wainui headland on the way to the Abel Tasman Park. And because I forgot all about this strange natural phenomenon when we were staying at Pohara I have now twice made the 40 minute journey to the beach from Collingwood. This has involved getting up at 4:30am and being ready to leave just after 5am. (It was lovely to have company on the second trip, Diane, one of our camp neighbours was very keen to see this intriguing activity too.)

The beach is in total darkness when I arrive but with the aid of my head torch I make my way along a path that runs in front of the holiday homes. I’m looking for the third sand ladder (my contact has told me that this is the best position to witness the arrivals) I clamber down the ladder, the dune underneath has partly washed away, and sit patiently waiting for dawn. The beach is deserted and the air cold & still, the sea is calm & I can hear the gentle lapping of waves onto the golden sand. It all looks so peaceful, & well, normal. I’m thinking “have I got the right beach?” “what if they don’t arrive?”, “do they come every day”, “surely this beach is no different to a hundred others” “why here?”.

And then as the first shafts of light brighten the sky, they start arriving. Silhouettes of shags fly in, individual birds at first, small groups of twos & fours.

Then six, ten and more, all silently winging in from their roost at nearby Tata Islands, 1km offshore. At first there is little sound but as the numbers increase so does the noise; they grunt & croak greetings to each other and there’s the constant noise of flapping wings on water.

As they arrive they drop into the surf and start diving for stones. After each dive they surface and flap their wings noisily, before diving again. Soon they waddle up onto the beach where they extend their necks and ‘spasm’ their throats to regurgitate the stones into a pile on the sand.

A few red-billed gulls wander in amongst the shags, scavenging for whatever else has come up with the stones.

Scientists don't really know why they throw up the stones. It’s thought that perhaps the birds need to swallow the stones to help cleanse their guts of parasitic worms. The coarser sand at Tata Beach may provide just the right sized pebbles, unlike the finer sand at other nearby beaches.

Once they have got rid of the stones some of them waddle up the beach to the driftwood and dried seaweed, they’re collecting nest material and will fly back to the islands with it. They look so comical and remind me of penguins.

They also squabble with each other as some try to steal twigs and seaweed. Others try to drag great clumps of weed or matted vegetation away but fail to get off the ground when they try to fly.

Many stay near the waterline and begin their morning preening, feathers are carefully pulled, separated & tweaked, wings spread and shaken to help them dry and then heads tucked in for 40 winks!

Spot the odd man out? A Pied Shag wonders what all the fuss is about……

…..the party must be up here.

With so many birds arriving and leaving it’s hard to count the numbers but it’s been reported that there are sometimes as few as 100 birds and at other times there has been a few thousand (5000 being the most ever counted). On both of my morning visits (5 days apart), I would estimate there were between 300-500 birds.

From NZ Birds Online- Adult breeding birds have small black spots on the pale silver-grey and brown back and wings, pale grey-blue underparts, and black thighs, rump and tail. A distinctive curved broad white stripe runs from above the eye down both sides of the neck, separating the black lines of the throat, pale silver-grey and brown back, and long neck to the base of the wing.

White filoplumes grow diagonally from the black neck and thighs, and a distinctive black, decurved, double crest grows erect on the forehead and nape. Bare facial skin between the eye and bill turns green-blue before the breeding season. The eye ring is blue, the iris dark brown. and the long, slender, hooked bill orange-brown. Non-breeding adults are duller, lack crests, have a neck stripe obscured by dark feathers, yellowish facial skin, and paler underparts. Immatures are paler and browner, and lack distinct head or neck markings.

And then they were gone.

Well almost…. this shag wandered about aimlessly, he seemed to be thinking "where's everybody gone?" Perhaps he slept in.

By sunrise, and in less than an hour they have finished their strange ritual & fly off, individually & in groups, out to sea to feed or back to the Tata Island cliffs. All that remains of their presence are hundreds of piles of little stones. Tomorrow morning, cleaned by the tide, they'll be ready to be swallowed again.

Into The Wild Blue Yonder

And what a beautiful day it was to launch the Takacat and head off to the Abel Tasman National Park to explore.

It was a little bit scary for me heading out to sea with only a bit of rubber & a cushion of air between me & the deep blue sea. I said a silent ‘we’ll see you soon’ to “Out There” as we passed on the seaward side of the rocks between Kaka Pah Point & tiny Kaka Island (which was once a Maori urupa- burial ground)

It’s not like I haven’t been out in the dinghy before, I have, at Mavora Lakes but it’s a little different when land doesn’t surround you on four sides and a rather large bay stretches out in front of you. But I needn’t have worried, the sea was calm all the way over to Fisherman Island which is on the edge of the National Park. In the photo below, Kaiteriteri is behind the last limestone point across the bay, centre left. And in case you’re wondering why the bow is down on the dinghy, it’s because the beach wheels are engaged at the back.

With a smooth sea it was possible to see any marine life along the way. We passed a few Little Blue Penguins floating about, a couple of seals swimming by and a number of startled shags as they surfaced near by, they very quickly dived again as we approached. Much further out we could see flocks of seabirds feeding and chasing schools of fish. Fisherman Island, a bird sanctuary, is a very small island with just this one small beach available at low tide.

We weren’t the only ones out enjoying winter sunshine and calm seas. Marahau & the start of the Abel Tasman Walk is over the back right of the kayak.

We headed around Fisherman island on the seaward side coming across a fairly large Spotted Shag (Parekareka) colony roosting on the rocks. The Spotted Shag is endemic to New Zealand and we found them feeding and roosting in many places along the coastline and around the islands. When I was processing the photos I was surprised to spot something else resting on the rocks; a seal fast asleep on top!

On our first trip up the coast we headed home after circuiting Fisherman Island, travelling back along the coastline exploring and stopping at Split Apple Rock along the way. On our second outing we thought we might make it past Fisherman & Adele Islands & around Pitt Head into Anchorage & Torrent Bay but once we got to the first point of Pitt Head we turned into a stiff breeze and choppy waters so we decided to give that a miss and turned around and headed back to Adele Island, which is alongside Fisherman Island and another bird sanctuary. This is the view as we approach from the north, with Huffam Rock to the right.

As we approached we could hear an amazing amount of bird song coming from the bush with many small birds flitting in and out of the trees. And then from the rocks we could hear the plaintive cries of seal pups which sound very much like babies crying (or goats). As we got closer we could see seals everywhere, both babies and adults; sheltering under rocks, on rocks sunning themselves, under bushes further up the slope, waving at us from the water and frolicking about with each other in amongst the kelp.

Most of the adults weren’t concerned about us approaching, there are many kayaks that visit Adele Island so the seals are used to having people up close but this little pup wasn’t too sure, it kept looking at us & then back at it’s mother sticking it’s nose down close to her and then back at us again like it was saying “Mum, mum wake up, quick wake up”. Mum slept on. And going by her dry coat she looks to have been sleeping on for quite some time even while her baby had been for a swim.

And then I spotted this seal who looked rather familiar…..similar facial features to my favourite coloured sheep.

Across at Huffam Rock we could see a seal hauling itself out of the water and then watching as two or three of it’s mates were playing in the water, you can see them to the far right of the larger photo. As we approached it “ran” across the rock and launched itself back into the sea chasing the others that had now swum in close.

There was also more shag colonies on the steep rock faces just along from the seals. The shags were flying in and landing while we were alongside. It is amazing how steep the rock was and how the shags were quite happy roosting on such a steep slope. I think they must have been soaking up the warmth from the north facing rocks. There were dozens of shags on the other side of this rock too although not on such a steep face. Between the seals & the shags ‘tis no wonder that the fishing is not good.

We came across another group of kayakers around the corner with their lunch boxes safely strapped on in front of them. There are many tour companies offering various combinations of walk, kayak and boating options in the Park, costing on average $150-$200pp for a full days outing. We feel very privileged that we can do this virtually for free & in our own time while on our travels. We do live in a beautiful country.

We pull into a tiny beach with a mix of gold & black sand on Adele Island to read the sign and scan for birds. Disappointingly there are no tracks on the island and the bush edge overhangs the steep cliffs and rock edges of the island so there is no way we can search further for birds.

A couple of Variable Oystercatchers (Torea) wile away the afternoon on their favourite rock just off the beach and are not perturbed as I move in close for a shot of the crystal clear sparkling waters that make the Able Tasman National Park so popular and memorable. Even in the winter.

We follow the rocky shoreline further around Adele Island and have lunch bobbing about in the dinghy in a tiny sheltered cove before pushing on and out into the bay where the wind is getting up and we spot the large catamaran that takes tourists out sailing in Tasman Bay, it moors at one of the buoys in our tiny bay back at Kaiteriteri.

The yacht beats us home as we take a longer more sheltered route hugging the coastline & passing Split Apple Rock along the way once again.

Waipapa Point, Catlins



In 1881 the Waipapa Reef was the scene of NZ's worst civilian maritime disaster when the SS Tararua sank with the loss of 131 lives, only 20 people managed to survive. A lighthouse was erected on the point after the disaster & is now one of the most popular places to visit in the Catlins but also in part because it's a well know spot to see sealions.

When we arrived there was a massive "meat ball" happening right down below us. A "meat ball", or baitball as it's sometimes known, is a huge school of small fish that have formed into a tightly packed spherical formation to try and avoid being eaten by the hundreds of birds feeding from above & other larger fish from below. The mass of fish swung this way and that as they tried to escape the frenzy of the diving birds. Most of the birds were sooty shearwaters, also known as mutton birds here in New Zealand, with gulls, terns & shags feeding on the fringes. It was all very exciting, & extremely noisy.

Down on the shoreline the spotted shags (parekareka)  that were finished with feeding were gathering to prod, preen, dry out & talk (squawk) about their catch.

Some shags dropped in from overhead, others arrived rather abruptly by surf.

And there in amongst all the melee were the sealions, four of them, cast in the sand looking like giant sea-slugs slumbering on with not a care in the world. If you haven't come across sealions before, they can be quite intimidating as can be seen by these visitors (below) that were standing well back from them. DOC (Dept of Conservation)  recommend that you keep a 10 metre distance but there's always someone who will push the envelope......(he's the one with a missing foot! ;) )

This guy below was my favourite, doesn't he look just so darn cute snoring away with his sand scull cap on to keep the sun off his head.

Just behind the sealions the white fronted terns (tara) were bringing home their catch for their fledgling chicks that were waiting on the rocks. They were demanding little blighters & the parents were very particular in getting to the right chick before letting go of their hard earned haul. Any hesitation and a gull stepped in to sort it out!

This chick did not belong to this bird, no matter how much it begged the adult ignored him. The adult kept looking around trying to locate it's chick and then flew on to another rock where a gull promptly grabbed the fish.

After all the animal & bird activity the lighthouse became a second priority but a look over my shoulder confirmed that we needed to high tail it out of there as a southerly front was fast approaching.

The 44 foot high lighthouse tower is built from kauri & totara (native NZ trees) and is one of the last timber lighthouses built in NZ, Kaipara Heads in the North Island being the other & also identical to Waipapa. In the 19th century timber lighthouses were cheaper to build and also the timber was able to withstand the fierce coastal environment. The lower cavity wall is filled with local stone for ballast.

Until the lighthouse was automated in 1976 there was a small community of lighthouse keepers' houses & out buildings located on the plateau behind the lighthouse. It would have been an isolated & windswept place to live.

With the weather front nearly upon us, we had one more stop to do further back along the road. A visit to the Tararua Acre, a cemetery & memorial for the Tararua shipwreck victims which is located over the sand dunes from the reef where the ship went down. It was a short walk across private farm land to the fenced off  acre. Sheep grazed in the dunes & paddocks surrounding the site.

Big fat raindrops joined us for the walk (run) back across the paddock to the car & by the time we got back to the fifth-wheeler it was pelting down, the temperature had plummeted & a strong wind was blowing. It didn't ease up for 24 hours. Such is the weather in Southland.

"A nasty misty mizzle, a steady dripping drizzle"- the person who wrote that in the Clutha Leader newspaper in 1890 knew a thing or two about the Catlin weather.