Wrybill (Anarhynchus frontalis)

Size: 20cm, 55gm.

Description: Pale, confiding wader with black eyes and bill curved to the right. Upperparts plain grey, underparts white. Breeding adult has black band on upper breast - wider in male. Juvenile has upper feathers edged white.

Habitat: Wrybills breed on shingle riverbeds in Otago and Canterbury. In the winter they miagrate to northern esturies where they feed on the mudflats.

Status: Protected rare endemic. 4200 birds in 2001. Declines due to predation and breeding habitat reduction.

Breeding: August - January. Lay 2 grey eggs in a scrape on a shingle island. Chicks hatch syncronously and are quickly led away from the nest.

Where and how to photograph: Easily photographed with a hide at the nest (once found). Out of breeding season flocks can be fairly approachable.

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