Ōmaha

History

Ōmaha means 'place of pleasure' in the Mãori language. Omaha saw growth during the 1970s when a bridge to Ōmaha was constructed by Broadlands Properties, who then subdivided the land and built housing. By 1982 the first houses and roads were finished. Development of the southern part of Omaha began in the 2000s. To prevent erosion a wooden barrier was constructed. Despite these efforts on the 19th of July, 1978 a strong storm destroyed the barrier and caused damage to several beach front properties. To solve the issue of erosion and flooding with high tides three groynes were constructed to divert currents from Ōmaha. Alongside these groynes the harbour would be dredged with sand taken to the beach. Following the work to protect the foreshore more building permits were permitted; however, most came with a caveat requiring them to be raised slightly above the ground.

Geography

The sandspit of Ōmaha was formed during the last glacial period, approximately 5000 to 6000 years BP. The beach sediment composition is over 70% quartz sand, which gifted Ōmaha the natural "white" appearance. There are three artificial groynes had been placed at northern part of the sandspit, to accumulate sediment from longshore drift. Local council in last two decades had been placing various groups of plant to stabilize the dunes, including Spinifex, pingao, iceplant and marram grass. Ōmaha Spit has also been identified by the Department of Conservation as a "significant breeding site for the endangered New Zealand dotterel. As a result, The Omaha Shorebird Protection Trust was established in 2009 to monitor the dotterel population at Ōmaha. Fundraising of $162,000 by the Trust saw construction of a predator-proof fence completed in August 2012 helping to protect the birds, their chicks and eggs from predation by cats, rats, stoats, wessels and hedgehogs.

Most-observed species

• Tui

  Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae (J.F.Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  4,168
• Common Myna

  Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3,932
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,271
• New Zealand Fantail

  Rhipidura fuliginosa (Sparrman, 1787) · Aves
  3,147
• Sacred Kingfisher

  Todiramphus sanctus (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) · Aves
  2,874
• Silver Gull

  Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) · Aves
  2,863
• Welcome Swallow

  Hirundo neoxena Gould, 1842 · Aves
  2,798
• Australasian Swamphen

  Porphyrio melanotus Temminck, 1820 · Aves
  2,794

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2011-07-01
  5 km NNW of Tamaki, New Zealand
• M 4 — 2007-03-13
  26 km NNW of Coromandel, New Zealand
• M 3.8 — 2007-02-21
  31 km NE of Murrays Bay, New Zealand
• M 4.5 — 2007-02-21
  30 km NE of Murrays Bay, New Zealand
• M 4.5 — 2003-12-17
  24 km SW of Ruakaka, New Zealand