Tricked by a Seal - what counts as normal behaviour?

Last weekend at the beach, we saw a fur seal (kekeno) holding one flipper in the air for a long, long time. It's not surprising that some people thought what they were seeing was a dolphin fin, but I recognised this seal pose from a previous encounter.

Seals have tricked me before with their one-flipper pose. A month ago, I saw a seal hold this one-flipper pose for much longer than ten minutes. I began to worry that it was injured. Only after I had called the DOC Hot Line and was speaking to someone there, did it roll over and clap its flippers together as if pleased by the joke.

Seal - thermal regulating

I thought that it must have been having a rest, but a friend explained that what the seal is doing is called thermal regulating. Holding a flipper out of the water helps it either cool down or warm up, depending on the sun and the wind.

Endangered Reef Herons - reporting sightings

Described as Nationally Endangered, there are only 300-500 reef herons left in New Zealand. I'm lucky to live in of the few places that they visit. It's a privilege to be able to watch them down among the rock pools and in the shallows.

Reef Heron showing breeding plumes on its back

Scientists are interested in sightings of this bird and you can report these through iNaturalistNZ or Project Hot Spot (although the focus of the latter is Taranaki). Before you send in a report - here's how to tell the difference between the endangered reef heron and the common white-faced heron. Both are called matuku moana in Māori.

How do you tell the difference between a white-faced heron and a reef heron?