Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve

Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve is located in the Paraparaumu this attached to the Kapiti Marine Reserve and to Kapiti Island Nature Reserve, presenting an extraordinary collection of safety for animals which circulate among sea, river and land habitats. This nationally-huge reserve protects a herbal mosaic of freshwater lakelets, saltwater lagoons and marshes, tidal sand residences and sandy seaside at the mouth of the Waikanae River. The river and estuary is a tidal domestic and airport to a selection of waders and sea birds. More than 60 species of birds breed there, including banded dotterel, pukeko, dabchick, and oystercatcher.

They occupy the sandspit where the river provides a few protection from the increasing numbers of cats, ferrets, puppies and path motorcycles on the other side of the reserve. Flocks of white-fronted terns, shags, gulls and penguins roost on land but rely on the ocean for small fish and shrimps. Domestic guests - including wrybills and black-fronted terns from Canterbury - forestall over, as do the international migratory birds, consisting of godwits and knots from Siberia.