Big List of 56 Waikawa Beach Birds

Over the 7+ years I've been visiting or living at Waikawa Beach I've come to realise we have a lot of birds around here. We have several environments: rural, urban (village), coast, lake, wetland, exotic forest. 

I'm no bird expert, but as I've noticed or taken photos of various birds I've researched what I've seen and drawn conclusions I hope are accurate. If you know your birds please do contribute your expertise.

Today I compiled a big list of Waikawa Beach birds — 52 in all (update: now 57). I've seen all these birds myself, with a couple of exceptions: I've only heard the Bittern, the Pipiwhararoa (Shining Cuckoo) and the Bellbird. John Hewitson found and rescued a live Little Blue Penguin on the beach one day, while I've only seen dead penguins on our beach.

My list is only of live birds — I've seen others washed ashore dead. Note: I plan to link from that list to at least one post about each bird on this site. 

How many birds from the list have you seen? Below are a PDF and an Excel spreadsheet of the list. 

Update, 23 March 2022: folks on the Waikawa Beach Facebook Group added two birds: Morepork often heard about half way along Waikawa Beach Road, and a Black Shag (or perhaps Little Black Shag) seen hanging out with the Pied Shags near the footbridge. They've been added to the list below, but not the spreadsheet or the PDF checklist. 

Big list of birds at Waikawa Beach  

1. Australasian bittern: 05 He aha tērā? Bittern
2. Australian Coot: Australian Coot With Chicks
3. Australian Shoveler: 16 He Aha Tera? Australasian Shoveler
4. Banded Dotterel: Little Dots The Dotterels
5. Bar-tailed Godwit: 27 He Aha Tera? Bar-tailed Godwit
6. Bellbird (heard only)
7. Black Swan: 18 He Aha Tera? Black Swan
8. Black-backed Gull: 09 He Aha Tera? Black-backed Gull
9. Blackbird: Blackbird, Manu Pango
10. California Quail: California Quail
11. Canada Goose: 15 He Aha Tera? Canada Goose
12. Caspian Tern: Taranui Caspian Terns
13. Chaffinch: 30 He Aha Tera? Chaffinch
14. Eastern Rosella: Eastern Rosella
15. Fantail
16. Goldfinch: 33 He Aha Tera? Goldfinch
17. Greenfinch: 10 He Aha Tera? Greenfinch
18. Grey Duck
19. Grey Warbler: Riroriro, Grey Warbler
20. Greylag Goose: 11 He Aha Tera? Greylag Goose
21. Little Black Shag: Little Black Shag
22. Little Blue Penguin
23. Magpie
24. Mallard Duck: 17 He Aha Tera? Mallard Duck
25. Morepork (heard only)
26. NZ Dabchick: Dabchick And Chick
27. NZ Scaup: NZ Scaup
28. NZ Dotterel: Little Dots The Dotterels
29. Pied Shag: 25 He Aha Tera? Pied Shag
30. Pied Stilt: 06 He Aha Tera? Pied Stilt
31. Pukeko: Pukeko At Lake Puna O Te Ora
32. Rainbow Lorikeet: 23 He Aha Tera? Rainbow Lorikeet
33. Red-billed Gull: Red-billed Gulls
34. Ring-necked Dove: 02 He Aha Tera? Barbary Dove
35. Ring-necked Pheasant: 08 He Aha Tera? Ring-necked Pheasant
36. Rock Pigeons: Rock Pigeons
37. Royal Spoonbill: Flock Of Spoonbills
38. Sacred Kingfisher: 32 He Aha Tera? Kingfisher
39. Shining Cuckoo (heard only)
40. Skylark: 19 He Aha Tera? Skylark
41. Song Thrush: 29 He Aha Tera? Thrush
42. South Island Pied Oystercatcher
43. Sparrow
44. Spur-winged Plover
45. Starling
46. Swamp Harrier: 04 He Aha Tera? Hawk
47. Tūī: 31 He Aha Tera? Tūī
48. Variable Oystercatcher: 03 He Aha Tera? Variable Oystercatcher
49. Waxeye:
50. Welcome Swallow: Warou Welcome Swallow
51. White Heron: 13 He Aha Tera? White Heron
52. White-faced Heron: He Aha Tera White-Faced Heron
53. White-fronted Tern
54. Wrybill: The Wrybill
55. Yellowhammer: The Yellowhammer
56. Kererū (spotted for the first time in August 2022)
57. Pīpīwharauroa, Shining cuckoo (heard but not seen for the first time in November 2022)
58. Ruddy Turnstone (seen for the first time in December 2022)

Big bird spreadsheet (excludes Kererū, Pīpīwharauroa and Ruddy Turnstone)

Checklist of birds (22KB PDF) (excludes Kererū, Pīpīwharauroa and Ruddy Turnstone)