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One day last August, I was away from home and was telling friends how I had never seen a karearea. Everyone else had seen them frequently. They even nested in a building at work. But not me. When we got home the next day, there was one in the drive sitting on a low branch eating a bird. We watched it for about 10 minutes.

Also saw my first whio this year.

But that can't beat the day I saw two birds I had never even heard of before for the first time, without even trying – pipit and banded rail.

One day will be my last first sighting.

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Gruesome but very cool. Love the kārearea - I've got a photo of one looking similar to panel 6 as it was dissecting a thrush. What species were the other birds?

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They were black birds. We didn't know they were nesting in the punga.

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I didn't know that birds nested in them at all. Seems so precarious.

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