 uriwai,  the next major beach north, requires a detour back through Waimauku if you wish to reach it by road. At the south end of the beach is one of the only three nesting colonies of the Australasian gannet - the others being the well-known colony at Cape Kidnappers, along with that at Farewell Spit.
You can get a good view of the domestic tribulations of the gannets from the hill above.They arrive here to nest around the end of September and the young birds, like so many other young New Zealanders, head off to Australia for their formative years. |
At two years of age they begin to return to our waters - never to leave again. Gannets are among the few native birds to be on the increase and are vigorously in the process of establishing new colonies.
Muriwai is also noted as one of the 'hotspots' for whale strandings although these are not all that common. The largest stranding of sperm whales to take place in our waters was here in 1974 when 72 animals came ashore. Altogether, since records have been kept, there have been five herd and 12 individual strandings of this species at Muriwai and other species have come ashore not far along the coast.Another interesting drive to take out of Auckland is south to Miranda on the Firth of Thames. Turn off State Highway 1 at Otara, then travel to the coast again at Kawakawa Bay through Clevedon. On the way you pass through mainly pastoral country with its inevitable introduced birds. Here I recently saw a red-legged partridge, which is our most recent bird introduction - about 10,000 or so have been released in the Auckland area by the Auckland Acclimatisation Society since 1980. To my mind it is a pleasantly coloured and charming bird, and a great improvement on such birds as the house sparrow, which were first imported by the same society in 1865.Although it could be considered heretical to say so, most of these bird introductions were not entirely unwelcome, except for perhaps that of that arch-villain, the magpie. The depredations of both Maori and Pakeha left a very large gap indeed in our fauna and presumably an even larger temptation to fill it. My only regret is that some of these nostalgic early settlers didn't hail from countries where the birds were a little more colourful. The scarlet or gold of some orioles and tanagers would do a lot to brighten up our dreary winter mornings.From Kawakawa Bay it is not far to Miranda and here can be seen one of the most impressive assemblages of wading birds in this country. Godwits, knots, dotterels and plovers all spend at least part of the year here, while a number of very rare visitors to our shores have also turned up at Miranda. An educational centre has been built at Miranda and this should be of considerable assistance to visitors - even those people who have difficulty in telling one wader from another.
From Miranda, the return trip to Auckland can be made via the Hunua Ranges and these can be reached by turning inland at Miranda and then continuing on through Mangatangi and Moumoukai. The Hunuas cover some 18,500 hectares and, although not quite as rich in vegetation as the Waitakeres, 290 species of trees and plants have been found here. Along with Tiritiri Matangi Island, it is the only place near Auckland where kokako are still found. These birds are in very low numbers and conservation staff are putting in considerable efforts to increase these. Other natives still found in this area include kereru, tui, and the common smaller species; if you are fortunate you might even see kaka. |
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