The White Heron Sanctuary Tours in New Zealand 2024-2025

Elegant White Herons impress with their snow-white plumage and particularly graceful walk

Best time: September–early March

It is necessary to keep as quiet as possible to not frighten delicate White Herons. These snow-white birds are amusing, especially while hunting: they cautiously step across the water looking for food. What a graceful walk!

Royal Spoonbills do not fall behind and are even more pompous. However, their black spoon-shaped bills and yellow-shaded eyelids resembling make them look rather comic. Little Shags are not white: their plumage varies in color from black to black-and-white. Nevertheless, they have their own charm. Around 120-150 White Herons inhabit New Zealand. Catching a glimpse of one of these magnificent birds is an exceptional and uncommon occurrence.

Best Time to See White Heron

The White Heron Sanctuary tours through Waitangiroto Nature Reserve are offered during the white herons' breeding season, which is between September and early March.

Tours Activities

The Waitangiroto Nature Reserve is accessible from the township of Whataroa only via a land-based guided tour with White Heron Sanctuary Tours. Attendees can witness the splendid Kotuku, or White Heron, in their undisturbed nesting habitat. Access to the White Heron colony is not permitted for independent visits. Visitors are required to participate in a guided tour provided by White Heron Sanctuary Tours from Whataroa.

Established in 1987, White Heron Sanctuary Tours is the primary and exclusive tour provider authorized to facilitate visits to the nesting White Heron within the Waitangiroto Nature Reserve, which is administered and safeguarded by the Department of Conservation. Also, visitors can observe the Royal Spoonbill and the Little Shag, who also share this area.