Chlidonias
Well-known member
Another new year in good old shaky Christchurch. The chap at who's house I am living is just getting into birding and so for the first three days of 2012 we headed down to Dunedin. The day started slowly, because said chap's girlfriend doesn't care for early rising. Few birds of note (well, no birds of note really) were spotted before we stopped briefly at Timaru where a few endemic black-billed gulls were hanging around the Falabella ponies at Caroline Bay (having seen black-backed gulls in Christchurch and red-billed gulls while passing through Ashburton, we had thereby seen every gull species in New Zealand on day one. Yes, all three of them...). Anyway, onwards we drove to Moeraki. We paused at the world-famous Moeraki Boulders where there were a lot of shags and petrels gathering out on the ocean (but too far away to actually identify), as well as variable oystercatchers on the beach and song thrush and chaffinch in the car park. The next stop a few minutes away was what my friend was waiting for, because it was the penguin hide at Katiki Point, easily the best viewing hide for yellow-eyed penguins. He had never seen a yellow-eyed penguin before, so he was very excited when we found three birds right by the fence that surrounds the forest patch in which they nest (the fence being there to protect the birds from marauding dogs and the like). Once in the hide we watched several penguins coming and going up and down the beach at the base of the forest patch, and to top it off there were two big brown fluffy chicks right in front of the hide itself. The only two mammals of the day were both in this area too, with numerous NZ fur seals lolling around on the rocks and a bunny rabbit over by the township.
BIRDS
1) European blackbird Turdus merula
2) Black-backed gull Larus dominicanus
3) House sparrow Passer domesticus
4) Common starling Sturnus vulgaris
5) Feral pigeon Columba livia
6) Australian magpie Gymnorhina tibicen
7) South Island pied oystercatcher Haematopus finschi
8) Red-billed gull Larus novaehollandiae
9) Australasian harrier Circus approximans
10) Black-billed gull Larus bulleri
11) European skylark Alauda arvensis
12) Spur-winged plover Vanellus miles
13) Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella
14) Variable oystercatcher Haematopus unicolor
15) Song thrush Turdus philomelos
16) Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs
17) Pukeko (Purple gallinule) Porphyrio porphyrio
18) Welcome swallow Hirundo neoxena
19) Yellow-eyed penguin Megadyptes antipodes
20) White-fronted tern Sterna striata
21) European goldfinch Carduelis carduelis
22) Paradise duck Tadorna variegata
MAMMALS
1) New Zealand fur seal Arctocephalus forsteri
2) European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus
BIRDS
1) European blackbird Turdus merula
2) Black-backed gull Larus dominicanus
3) House sparrow Passer domesticus
4) Common starling Sturnus vulgaris
5) Feral pigeon Columba livia
6) Australian magpie Gymnorhina tibicen
7) South Island pied oystercatcher Haematopus finschi
8) Red-billed gull Larus novaehollandiae
9) Australasian harrier Circus approximans
10) Black-billed gull Larus bulleri
11) European skylark Alauda arvensis
12) Spur-winged plover Vanellus miles
13) Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella
14) Variable oystercatcher Haematopus unicolor
15) Song thrush Turdus philomelos
16) Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs
17) Pukeko (Purple gallinule) Porphyrio porphyrio
18) Welcome swallow Hirundo neoxena
19) Yellow-eyed penguin Megadyptes antipodes
20) White-fronted tern Sterna striata
21) European goldfinch Carduelis carduelis
22) Paradise duck Tadorna variegata
MAMMALS
1) New Zealand fur seal Arctocephalus forsteri
2) European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus