He is graceful. He is beautiful and he has been a constant gargoyle on our building for the last 2 months and every year for the last 12 years. During the last 2 months we have watched as his breeding plumage has grown and grown (the long fluffy feathers that adorn his back).
Egretta alba or Kotuku is the Maori bird of a single flight that legend says when a chief dies, flies all the way north as his spirit to Cape Reinga "Bird of a Single Flight"
These wonderful birds will soon gather in the protected forest of the Waitangitaona River, their only NZ breeding colony just north of the Okarito Lagoon. Has any one been to see them breeding?.
We will soon farewell our gargoyle until next year when he returns to stuff himself full of whitebait, grow those beautiful breeding feathers and look down on us mere mortals with that regal gaze!
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Kotuku_White_Heron_2_Vertical_on_the_r.jpg (27.7 KB, 0 downloads) 8 months old - Kotuku_White_Heron_Sept_1_2011_Lake_Mo.jpg (26.9 KB, 0 downloads) 8 months old
- Kotuku_White_Heron_2_on_the_roof_of_th.jpg (24.9 KB, 5 downloads) 8 months old