Larry Wheatland said:
Hi Mark,
I guess you're out there now, so hope the trip's going well. I for one am hoping you'll send in a report of how you got on in the vacational trip section, as I'm hoping to visit South Island about a year from now.
Good luck
Thanks for all the input guys. Just got back (and still suffering from jet lag!), but what can i say? AMAZING!
Everybody raves about how beautiful the place is - they're right. North Island is a bit like the more rural parts of the UK (eg Peak District, Dartmoor), but South Island is like another world - huge snow-capped mountain ranges (yes, snow fell in the mddle of summer!), stunning, mirror-smooth lakes and the most atmospheric, moss-covered forests you've ever seen. No wonder they filmed Lord of the Rings there. And then there's the birds...
The island of Tiritiri Matangi in the North holds most of the introduced endangered native species and easy to see in a single day trip. Brown teal, takehe, Tui, Kokako, Stitchbird, Red-fronted parakeet, Whitehead, bellbird were all ticked within three hours. Couldn't stay overnight for LS kiwi, so had to got to Kapiti Island for that one.
Kapiti is another island sanctuary with similar species (no kokako), but has a much more mature feel. It's more birdy, with bigger trees and makes you realise what Tiri should grow into. Whatever your feelings about reintroductions, you'd probably swallow any misgivings if you paid either of these places a visit.
The Cook Strait crossing was a bit rough, but that meant more birds. Quite a few albatrosses, some went unidentified inevitably, but White-capped, Black-browed and Buller's were ID'd, plus Fairy prions, Fluttering Shearwaters, Cape Petrels.
A cruise up the Marlborough sound produced a single King Shag (the only place in the world where they occur) before moving onto to Kaikoura. Everyone raves about the place, and I can see why. It is a beautiful place in itself, with an awesome mountain range behind it, but the seabirding is truly wonderful. The continental shelf runs really close to land here, meaning you are in serious water after only 15 minutes in a boat. The "Albatross Encounter" is a small (10-12 person) boat that goes out and "chums" the birds. Within minutes we were sat within 6 feet of 2 Gibson's Wandering Albatross, 3 salvin's albatross, 5 Northern & 1 southern Giant Petrels, Westland and Cape petrels, to name a few. The numbers and variety weren't as good as I'd expected, but it was later in the summer than most birding trips . Additional bonuses were a pod of Dusky Dolpin under the boat and 4 Sperm whales during a 30 minute helicopter whale-watch.
I dipped on GS Kiwi at Arthur's Pass. It was pouring down and didn't even managed to hear a call either. My only real dip of the trip. (Didn't try for Orange-fronted parakeet - too much effort and too little time).
The Rock Wren at Homer's tunnel gave itself up in glorious sunshine within 100yds of the car park and proceeded to dance around our feet - at one time, only 6 inches from my fingers! My bird of the trip - pity it was too quick for the camera to get really crippling shots!
Yellowhead (I'm told by the Dept of Conservation) is now wiped out in the Eglington Valley, and I duly failed to find any here, but managed to get excellent views on Ulva Island (off Stewart Island) later in the trip, when I had one of those 2 hours of birding where everything gives itself up. I literally walked one of the trails and birds just popped up to get themselves ticked. Both parakeets, weka, kaka, rifleman, brown creeper all gave excellent views.
A pelagic off Stewart Island was disappointing due to a calm sea. (Seems strange to say I'm sorry the sea was calm!) But the wind got up the following day and albatrosses appeared from nowhere. Without a scope, I managed to ID 4 Buller's and over 20 White-Capped albatross just cruising up and down the coast about 200-400 yards out. Not an experience I often get in deepest Staffordshire!! The return across the Foveaux Strait back to S Island was more a case of clinging on to my seat as the high-speed ferry dodged and bucked in a 3 metre swell. With the naked eye I managed W-C Alb, a prion sp, Cape Petrel and thousands of Sooty Shearwaters streaming past. Fortunately my stomach held out for the hour-long ride.
Haven't had time to sort through the photos yet, but if I have anything good I'll post a few to get you droooling.
Thanks again for the interest.
Mark
