Rhonda Preston-Jones could be forgiven for thinking she was in Australia yesterday morning when she looked out the window and saw three pelicans only metres from her home in Waterview.
The large water birds, characterised by a long beak and large throat pouch, were pottering about in an estuary for about half an hour before flying off in the direction of Avondale.
Ms Preston-Jones photographed the birds after her husband, Michael, saw them through his binoculars.
"I visit Australia regularly and you see them around estuaries and you think what amazing-looking birds ... it was quite fun to see them here."
Ian Grant, a zoologist at Auckland Zoo, was unsure where the pelicans had come from but said there was a good chance they were part of a flock of 13 that settled on the banks of the Northern Wairoa River, near Dargaville, in August last year.
