While many people head to Muriwai Beach looking for surf or a weekend walk, Ian McLean and his team are searching for something very different.
Every few weeks, the volunteers from Birds New Zealand fan out along the high tide line, scanning the sand for birds that have washed ashore.
Their work has quietly been happening for decades. But with two cases of bird flu now detected in New Zealand, it has taken on renewed significance.
"We're going to do a patrol along the high tide," McLean told 1News before setting off.
"That's where most of our birds are going to be. We're going to be looking for any sort of bird carcasses, including land birds as well."
The Birds New Zealand beach patrol scheme has been running since 1951.
Across the country, volunteers regularly walk stretches of coastline recording every bird they find, helping build one of New Zealand's longest-running wildlife monitoring programmes.
The information is used to understand bird populations, migration patterns, weather impacts and, now, to help authorities monitor bird flu.
For seabird researcher Ariel Haswell, the patrols are about much more than simply collecting dead birds.
"I frequently assist with the beach patrols out here looking for dead birds," she said.
"We've sometimes performed research using the dead birds, so this is a very valuable tool not only to understand what's out here in New Zealand but also that it's contributing to science."
A dead bird doesn't automatically mean bird flu
Not long into the patrol, McLean spots a bird lying on the sand.
Wearing gloves, he carefully examines it before identifying it as an Antarctic fulmar - a seabird that spends much of its life in the Southern Ocean.
For many beachgoers, finding a dead bird today might immediately trigger thoughts of bird flu.
McLean says that's understandable, but not always accurate.
"Dead birds on beaches are a common thing, especially in winter time, and it happens quite a lot," he said.
"We shouldn't panic about one or two dead birds being found. But at the same time we should be very aware and we should be very careful."
Winter storms, food shortages and long migrations all regularly leave exhausted seabirds washed ashore.
Bird flu is now another possibility - but not the only one.
What should you do if you find one?
- Don't touch sick or dead birds.
- If you find three or more sick or dead wild birds together, report them to MPI's Exotic Pest and Disease Hotline (0800 80 99 66).
- Take a photo if it's safe.
- Record the location and species if you know it.
- Keep dogs away from the birds.
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