Another endemic and very exciting bird from New Zealand. This little wader has a bent bill that enables it to get to fish eggs under rocks in the river beds in the river system in Southern Island where it breeds.
This bird was part of a flock of a dozen found with the help of Nick Allen at Lake Ellessmere south of Christchurch. It passed through here on its way to breeding grounds.
I tried approaching them crawling on the dry mudflat as they'd fly off when I walked up to them.
Finally I got tired of all that crawling and got up. To my surprise I could now walk right up to them to no more then 5 meters away.