BIRDS OF A DIFFERENT FEATHER

During the past two weeks in the bay of a little muttonbird island at the entrance of Pegasus Harbour on the south east Coast of Stewart Island, we managed to get a few hours dingy fishing with a green line. We caught a few trumpter and a few more blue cod. But the biggest joy proved to be the mollymawks, as we know them, who sat about three feet from the dinghy waiting patiently for us to dong bony kelpie fish on the head and sling them overboard. The three or four birds that tracked the dinghy argued and scrapped over the titbits. But at the closing of the day, with drops of sea water on their silken feathers, the dying sun amplified the majestic beauty of the birds