by Angela

One of the first curious things we noticed when we came to Maraetai was a roped off area along the beach right around the corner from our house. Signs told us that we should keep out of the area to protect an endangered dotterel bird that had a nest on shore. There was also a date of when the dotterel had started laying on her eggs and the time till hatching allowing us to surmise when the baby chicks would arrive- in about 2 weeks. How exciting for me, the amateur naturalist! I decided it was high time for me to buy some good binoculars, unfortunately without the help of amazon, which of course I had to locate in an actual store and drive myself there. Can you tell I’m still annoyed at this inconvenience? I also bought a field guide to NZ birds online (and reluctantly paid for shipping).

It has been a while since my last post. I have been preoccupied with getting the kids settled into school and helping plan trips for family to see us here. The kids are all doing well which is a huge relief. Charles and Audrey are making friends. Charles met a group of kids on the bus who even took him out for ice cream after the first day (so kind!). Audrey is jumping into the social scene and in usual Audrey fashion is wanting to do every activity she can fit into her schedule. And I’m proud of Maria, an introvert, for getting used to traditional school; aside from some grouchiness at the end of the day and trouble falling asleep, she says she enjoys it and is excited to go to school in the mornings. 

Did you ever have nightmares of being in school and being late for your classes or not knowing where your classes were? It seems from talking to others, that I’m not the only one who has had that recurring dream, likely born from our college days and schedule anxiety. Well, Charles lived that nightmare on day two of his school. Day one was a fun field day and ice breaker games for all the year 9’s only. Day two, the rest of the school joined to bring the total students over 2,000. Charles brought his laptop but couldn’t connect it to the school network which means he didn’t have access to his schedule. He had no idea where he was supposed to be. He said one kid was nice and was able to pull up his on his own laptop computer but then when that class ended, he couldn’t find that kid so he was lost again. He also couldn’t figure out how to get to his classes. All those friends he had met on Day 1, he couldn’t find them in the crowds during lunch. Needless to say, the entire day he was late for all his classes and came home flustered and defeated. Danny helped him out that night locating his schedule, writing it down, and studying the school map. After that, things have gone smoothly and it’s something we can now joke about. Well, aside from not being able to locate a bathroom when he had a full bladder but I think he’s got it figured out. I know he is growing from these experiences and I’m proud of him for keeping his head up. 

So about a week ago we headed down to the beach as a family, binoculars in hand, ready to try our luck at spotting that endangered dotterel somewhere within the large roped off area. The sun was setting making it hard to see and although there were lots of sea birds around, we couldn’t find the one that looked like the picture on the sign. A lady came by and told us they are pretty small. I felt hopeful and tried to channel my naturalist spirit. I scanned the beach again, and I thought I saw something smallish moving on the beach, something that blended into the sand, right next to a bigger black shore bird. Sure enough, it was the mama dotterel nesting on her eggs. I was thrilled! One little endangered bird in the mix of all these bigger and abundant birds. I hoped to come back soon and see some chicks. 

A few days later, as the girls and I were walking back from school along the shore, we saw a real naturalist with khakis, boots, and a hat at work taking down the fencing around the area. We called out to her and asked about the dotterels. “They are gone,” she said, “we think some of the other birds who were near in a large group ate the chicks which they have been known to do. Twenty-eight days of hard work. This isn’t the first time either. We tried.” What a bummer! Well, I guess I’ll have to take my budding naturalist skills elsewhere on this adventure.