I’ve Got My Eye On You!

I've Got My Eye On You

While I was roaming around looking for a lagoon shot, Kathleen was mesmerized the a very friendly bird. Almost from the time we arrived until we left this isolated beach in New Zealand, this beauty was within feet, swooping closer, resting, observing and just being nice. We thought she was curious and happy to see company. A lovely beach, a few sand flies but just charming and empty in New Zealand Winter. Later, after discussing with locals, the behaviour of the bird was explained!

The bird like humans who attract sand flies! The hover around and eat them once they determine that there are enough congregated around the “bait”…in this case, Kathleen!

Sandfly (or sand fly) is a colloquial name for any species or genus of flying, biting, blood sucking Dipteran encountered in sandy areas. We all were scratching later wondering what bit us…luckily this bird consumed most!