karoro
1. (noun) seagull, southern black-backed gull, Larus dominicanus - a common large gull with a heavy bill. Body plumage entirely white except for wings and back which are black above. Bill is yellow, eyelid orange-red and iris white. Legs and feet are olive. Young bird in its first winter has a black bill, dark brown feet and is mottled below and barred above grey and brown (see illustration).
Ānō he karoro e topa ana i runga i ngā kaimoana (TP 12/1903:4). / Like a black-backed gull soaring above seafood.
Synonyms: toie, kaiē, rāpunga, pohio, kōtingotingo
2. (noun) bar-tailed godwit, Limosa lapponica - a brown-and-white migratory wading bird with a long, slightly upturned, black bill and a pink base which breeds in the northern hemisphere and summers in the southern. This term is applied to the godwit when it is feeding during the southern hemisphere summer and the breast is accumulating large amounts of fat and the plumage is the basic pale plumage.
Tuatahi mō te karoro: Ko tōna uma katoa he mā ngā huruhuru, ko ngā parirau me te tuarā i rite ki ō ērā atu (HKW 1/11/1901:1). / Firstly about the karoro: The feathers of its breast are totally white, and the wings and back are like those other varieties.
See also kuaka
Synonyms: tarakakao, rīrīwaka, kuhikuhiwaka, kura, kuaka, kakao, rakakao, hakakao
3. (noun) ribbed venus shell, Protothaca crassicosta - an oval-shaped bivalve mollusc found on open sandy beaches just below low tide.
