Christchurch Cathedral

Christchurch Cathedral

This is the cathedral that sits in the centre of Christchurch. I think it’s obligatory that I post a picture of it.

In other news, I spent some time at the Avon/Heathcote River estuary today, so I had another opportunity to reacquaint myself with the local wildlife. Here’s the list for the day:

Black scaup, pied stilt, eastern bar-tailed godwit, spur-winged plover, pied oystercatcher, pied shag (successfully catching a fish!), white-fronted tern, white-faced heron, pukeko, Canada goose, paradise shelduck, black swan, mallard duck, red-billed and black-backed gulls.

The godwits are the most interesting of that lot. There weren’t a whole lot around today, but a lot more will probably arrive in the next few weeks. They fly in direct from Siberia in spring, then fly back via East Asia in autumn. That’s a long haul for a little bird — they’re probably not much bigger than a baby chicken.

Cornish pastie for lunch. Delicious.

3 Comments »

  1. Comment by Jtabz — September 6, 2006 @ 9:52 am

    You do know what they say about people who get psyched on birds…

  2. Comment by Ali Hassan — September 6, 2006 @ 7:05 pm

    I don’t think I do actually. You’ll have to fill me in …

  3. Comment by sacha — September 6, 2006 @ 7:55 pm

    I forgot that you were keen on birdwatching. You are being a good tourist while you are here. Meat pie for lunch, fish and chips for dinner. mmmm

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