Royal spoonbills are thriving in New Zealand, with birdwatchers spotting their extravagant head feathers in more and more estuaries and lagoons. The population is now growing at a rate of 10 per cent per year, according to the most recent Birds New Zealand census, which recorded 4593 spoonbills nationwide.
“Aren’t they amazing to watch when they fly?” says Bernie Kelly, who took part in the census. “I remember looking at them through binoculars and thinking, ‘I’m not in Africa, I live in Clive. And they’re just down in my wetland.’”
In 2012, Kelly, along with John Sheen, found the North Island’s first large-scale spoonbill colony at Pōrangahau estuary in Hawke’s Bay.
Spoonbills flew over from Australia in the early 1900s, and were first spotted breeding here in 1949.
The birds’ te reo name, kōtuku ngutupapa, means “white heron with big lips”.