We made one stop on our way out of Miranda to photograph a roost of Royal Spoonbills, then it was off to Gulf Harbor north of Auckland for our last to birding destinations. This meant finding our way to SH1 and the motorway through the center of Auckland. Being a Saturday, the traffic was heavy, but not backed up anywhere and we at the Shakespear Regional Park before noon. (Yes, that is the spelling they use).
Shakespear is another park with a predator-proof enclosure, but rather than being primarily a wildlife refuge, it is mainly a recreational park. Unusually, one drives through the predator-proof gate to enter the park.
Since it was the weekend, there were lots of visitors, mainly families heading to one of the two beaches. Our first stop was at Shakespear Beach on Te Haruhi Bay. There were lots of people at the beach and picnicking in the grassy park behind the beach. There were also many Pūkeko (Australasian Swamphen according to ebird). We used to see several regularly on Waiheke and felt that the numbers were down when we were birding there, but they must have all come to Shakespear. We counted 46 of them wandering around on the grass...and I'm sure we missed a few.
We spent about 40 minutes wandering about then started up the Lookout Track which went up to top of the park. We got about 200 yards up the hill, realized it was the hottest part of the day and all we were doing was walking through an open field. Something about mad dogs and Englishmen crossed our minds and we retreated.
We then drove over to the other side of the park at Army Bay to walk the wooded Waterfall Gully trail, a much cooler alternative. It was a pleasant hike, finishing with a walk through a field of sheep. There were many fewer birds, aside from another 15 Pūkeko, but we did see rare (for New Zealand) Australian Shelduck in a small pond along the way.
It was then off to Gulf Harbor, a couple of kilometers away, to find our accommodations for the next two nights and the ferry to Tiritiri Matangi.
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