Perhaps the coolest duck in the world – these little guys are true white water lovers. They are normally found in the headwaters of rivers high in the back country. One place that you can spot them in the wild is on the Whangapeka river, the best time to see them is at dusk as they cruise around in the large pools, listen out for their shallow whistle ‘Whio” as they can be hard to see.
I was lucky on three recent trips to the Whangapeka, the first trip I had 1 appear, the second 4 swam past and on the third trip I had 5 jump up onto the rocks next to me. It’s absolutely worth braving the sand flies and cold to check out these cool native ducks.
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