The wrybill

The wrybill

The wrybill or ngutuparore is one of our unique New Zealand birds. It is very distinctive because it is the only bird with a sideways curved beak. It nests on the braided river beds in the South Island and it is thought that the curved bill gives it an advantage when searching under rounded river stones for insect larvae. Outside of the breeding season they gather in large flocks at various coastal estuaries and mudflats such as at Miranda or the Manawatu estuary which is where I took these photos.

12th Feb 2019 Alec Messenger

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