The final stop before Auckland on our Coromandel-Auckland trip was at Karioitahi Beach on the Auckland west coast. This was the first time we had visited the west coast south of Auckland so was new territory to explore. The black ironsands are similar to what we know from Kawhia, Te Henga/Bethalls and Muriwai while the Tasman Sea, incited by the prevailing westerlies is a little more rebellious than the Pacific on the eastern side of the country.

We had a small unit at Castaways resort for a few days. A strong westerly and rain gave us some good time to catch up on reading. Flax/harakeke edging the deck gave a landing zone for birds that I could photograph from my chair. Most exciting were the starlings which are notoriously wary.

The grey skies gave the perfect conditions for Birds on White photos. The 500mm lens was a little too long to get a shot including the whole flower stalk and bird so I shot a 2 image vertical panorama and assembled it in Photoshop.

A rainy drive saw us exploring a wet Āwhitu Regional Park. This has some lovely Fernbird/mātātā habitat but the rain hampered our efforts to locate any of the birds.

We did manage to locate a lovely male California quail acting sentry while his partner foraged on the ground below his perch.

Once the rain had settled a walk at Karioitahi Beach gave an opportunity for a Song Thrush on a dead, wind bent flax flower stalk to add to my collection. I especially like the complementary colours in plumage and perch.

The improved conditions made the beach a nicer place to be as a cooperative White-fronted Tern/Tara completed the thread linking Coromandel and Auckland stages of our journey.

Photos with Nikon D850 (Quails D500) and Nikon 500mm f5.6PF lens. Aerial panorama with DJI Mavic Pro drone.