Recreational vehicles of migratory shorebird watchers

Migratory shorebird watchers

Recreational vehicles of migratory shorebird watchers at Pūkorokoro / Miranda on the western shore of the Firth of Thames, Aotearoa New Zealand early this year.

The high tide shelly beach ridges here form roosting enclaves for kūaka godwits, huahou red knot, ngutu parore wrybills, tutūriwhatu dotterels, tōrea South Island pied oystercatchers, tōrea pango variable oystercatchers, poaka pied stilts, sandpipers, spoonbills, terns and more. A truly special place! Pūkorokoro / Miranda Shorebird Centre is the pivot.

Miranda was named after HMS Miranda, a British naval warship that shelled the Ngāti Pāoa settlement of Pūkorokoro November 1863 during the invasion and land confiscations of the Waikato, a part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s heinous colonial wars.

Pūkorokoro, the name, was discarded by the British during colonisation in favour of Miranda, until, in 2015, Ngāti Pāoa proposed through the Office of Treaty Settlements the dual name Pūkorokoro / Miranda. 

A business group has proposed an international shipping port in the Firth of Thames, holy smoke, a never ending story!