New Zealand November-December 2008: The Lost Land of the Kiwi (2 Viewers)

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Day Seven: 29th November, Glentanner and Mount Cook Village

The next day I was doing a bit more Black Stilt searching and also looking for a few other notable species. I caught the Cook Connection shuttle bus from Twizel up to the small airfield at Glentanner. Just north of the airfield a marked track goes out onto the braided river beds of the Tasman Delta, near where it reaches Lake Pukaki. This is a great place to look for the specialities of this habitat and to enjoy the views towards Aoraki Mount Cook.

Soon after going through gate along the track I found a group of four Black Stilts roosting in the grass. They were mostly young birds - I guess a year old - with a mixture of black and white plumage. They were all much darker than the hybrid stilts I'd seen the day before. I eventually saw around 9 Black Stilts at Glentanner, including a couple of distant adults, but didn't see any other stilts there.

Banded Dotterels were very numerous and approachable around the river beds and I had close views of a New Zealand Pipit. Other species included South Island Pied Oystercatcher, which was still looking a lot like one or two other Oystercatchers I could mention, Black-billed Gull, Paradise Shelduck and Black-fronted Tern. The other bird I was hoping to see was one of New Zealand's other charismatic waders, the Wrybill. After a bit of searching I had good views of one feeding in a river bed. They look like a 'normal' wader until you see that strange bill. I probably saw about half a dozen in all - they seemed to be most common in the areas nearer to the lake.

After lunch at the airfield cafe I picked up the Cook Connection shuttle again and headed upriver to Mount Cook Village. This is a bit of a touristy spot but has some very good forest nearby. I was hoping to see Rifleman and New Zealand Falcon here, so asked advice at the information centre. Rifleman sounded easy enough and the falcon seemed possible just south of the village.

I began on the Bowen Bush Walk, which is short trail within the village. A bit of pishing soon brought a Rifleman very close in, a strategy that worked rather well with this species. I then walked the Governor's Forest Trail where several more Rifleman showed in response to pishing. They seemed to appear from nowhere to investigate the noise. I was quite struck by the differences between male and female - the male a bright green and the female almost Treecreeper-like. Like their relatives the Rock Wren, these are tiny but very charismatic birds. Also in the forest I had good views of a Tomtit.

As the trail emerged from the forest, it was possible to see out to the south and up into the mountains. Suspecting this might be a likely spot for the falcon, I set up my scope and waited. Within a couple of minutes a New Zealand Falcon shot past and stooped down towards a high cliff. I caught sight of the rufous vent as it sped past. A few minutes later presumably the same bird reappeared and gave more prolonged but distant views as it headed towards the mountain tops, where it briefly tangled with a passing Australasian Harrier. They're medium-sized falcons and in some ways rather like a Kestrel, with a long tail and slightly rounded wingtips. Their flight seemed rather reminiscent of an accipiter.

So rather an excellent return for the day, despite it being quite relaxed and easy birding. I headed back on the bus to Twizel and then caught another bus to Christchurch. This was quite a long journey through the first 'boring' countryside I'd seen in New Zealand. I then had to search for a place to stay in Christchurch after it turned out that the hostel I'd booked didn't exist any more. It all worked out okay in the end, although I ended up in one of those hostels where everyone who works there seems to be contractually obliged to use the word 'awesome' in every sentence. Next day, I was heading to Kaikoura, which actually was rather awesome.

Some shots from Glentanner:
1. Banded Dotterel. Very smart birds.
2. Female Paradise Shelduck, with progeny.
3. South Island Pied Oystercatcher - remind you of any Oystercatchers you know?
4&5. Some more Black Stilt inaction.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Wrybill ribaldry

1. New Zealand Pipit.
2. Wrybill showing good bill
3. Wrybill disguising itself as a normal bird
4. Black-billed Gulls
5. A pair of large and particularly inactive Black Stilts.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Mount Cook: a prominent local attraction

1. Actually to be fair the view to Mount Cook across Lake Pukaki probably takes some beating.
2. And the view across the Tasman Delta at Glentanner is quite fetching too.
3. Looking back towards Lake Pukaki.
4. Mount Cook: the mountain with the biggest tits in Australasia.
5. The sort of place you might look for New Zealand Falcon.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Some Rifleman cuteness

1. The phyllosc-like male Rifleman.
2. The treecreepery female Rifleman. Or is it Riflewoman?
3. Another bird that likes to show off its lack of wings.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Day Eight: 30th November, Kaikoura

I caught a very early bus from my awesome hostel in awesome Christchurch and headed up the coast to Kaikoura. I settled into my amusingly named hostel - the Lazy Shag - and then headed along the coast to the offices of 'Encounter Kaikoura'.

Birding in Kaikoura is rather a straightforward affair. You book on one of the Albatross Encounter boat trips and you see loads of albatrosses and other tubenoses at close range, binoculars barely required. The only tricky bit is holding on to the contents of your stomach and making sure the trips are actually running. At the Encounter offices I was greeted with the bad news that I was the only person booked on the afternoon boat. If no one else booked, the trip would either be cancelled or I'd have to pay for the whole boat - around NZ$240. In the words of Max Bygraves, that's bi-ig money.

I had an hour or two to see what happened so I headed a bit further around the Kaikoura peninsula and watched a large flock of Hutton's Shearwaters massing offshore and a couple of New Zealand Fur Seals hauled out on the rocks. A couple of Arctic Skuas were out to sea.

Happily, when I returned to the Encounter office I was told that four others had booked on the trip, so I had no tricky decision to make. We headed off around to South Bay and then got on the small Albatross Encounter boat. The weather was good now - with only a slight breeze and sunny skies. The boat bombed out a kilometre or so at speed and then slowed to a halt near a fishing boat. There were loads of big seabirds suddenly off the end of the boat, which I stood and stared at.

The big birds were albatrosses and the garrulous Northern Giant Petrels. Wandering Albatrosses tended to take charge. Most of these were Gibsons but there were a couple of smaller and darker Antipodean Albatrosses. Even larger were four Royal Albatrosses, including one Southern Royal. Perhaps most numerous were the smart, and rather dark Salvin's Albatross and there were a couple of the other 'Shy' species, White-capped Albatross. 3 Black-browed Albatrosses also joined in the fun, including one orange-billed adult.

The smaller birds were also of interest. There were good opportunities to compare two species of Procellaria petrel, the pale billed White-chinned Petrel and the darker billed Westland Petrel. There were plenty of Cape Pigeons, almost all of the Snares Island form, and three Sooty Shearwaters.

After enjoying lots of full-on seabird action at a couple of different spots we had some close up fun with a large pod of Dusky Dolphins. At one point the whole boat seemed to be surrounded by these smart looking cetaceans.

And then we headed back to port. So, seabirds. I love em. And I was going to see more of them tomorrow.

The action:

1. This is what you see at Kaikoura
2. This is what it's like
3. A big bad Northern Giant Petrel
4. An immature Black-browed Albatross
5. A dinky Cape Pigeon.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Pro-celebrity Procellarias

1. A pale billed White-chinned Petrel
2. And Westland Petrel with the black tip to the bill
3. Salvin's Albatross becalmed
4. Salvin's in majestic flight mode
5. Northern Royal Albatross in particularly majestic flight mode

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

The two posing New Zealand Fur Seals.

And, if you're wondering how it all sounds, here's a recording of some seabird commotion off the back of the boat.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Day Nine: 1st December, Kaikoura

I was up early for the first Albatross Encounter boat of the day. The weather was okay, if a bit cloudy, but there was a heavy swell after some strong onshore winds overnight. The trip went off okay though, and conditions weren't particularly bad once we were out amongst the birds. A similar selection of species were seen as on the previous trip, with the addition of a couple of Buller's Shearwaters, one of which circled the boat several times.

I was booked on a whale watch trip for the afternoon but unfortunately this was cancelled due to the sea conditions. The whale watch trips go further out to sea than the albatross boats, so perhaps it was worse out there. Plus whale watchers are obviously less hard than birders.

So, for the rest of the day I explored the Kaikoura Peninsula, the large promontory to the south of the town. As with many other places on the South Island, the landbirds were dominated by British species such as Skylark, Yellowhammer and Chaffinch. But there was a good selection of native shorebirds and seabirds, including Spotted Shag, Banded Dotterel, Turnstone, Variable Oystercatcher, White-faced Heron and Australasian Gannet. Large numbers of New Zealand Fur Seals were on the rock platforms, and there was also a huge colony of Red-billed Gulls. A bird I was particularly hoping to see here was Pacific Reef Heron, and I eventually found one slinking about the rocks after being tipped off by a birder I'd met on the boat in the morning.

Offshore there still several hundred Hutton's Shearwaters and one or two Sooty Shearwaters. A couple of Salvin's Albatrosses, a White-capped Albatross and 3 Northern Giant Albatross went past at various distances.

In the evening I got the bus up the coast to Picton, on the shore of Queen Charlotte Sound, from where I'd be getting the ferry to the North Island the following day.

Photos:
1. Royal Albatross, I think a Southern
2. Two Wandering Albatrosses - Gibson's on the left and the smaller and darker Antipodean on the right
3. Gibson's Albatross stretching its not inconsiderable wings
4&5. Salvin's Albatross, take off and landing

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

1. Buller's Shearwater. Rather smart aren't they.
2. Westland Petrel
3. A loud mouth Northern Giant Petrel
4. White-fronted Terns
5. Another lazy New Zealand Fur Seal

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

1&2. A couple more samples of the general ambience from the boat
3. It was a bit misty when I was in Kaikoura, so I never got the full 'mountains into the sea' effect.
4. Around the Kaikoura Peninsula
5. Local radio Kaikoura style

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

1. Spotted Shag, adult and immature
2. White-faced Heron
3. Pied Shag
4. Variable Oystercatcher
5. Red-billed Gull

 

[Tectortony]

I did a trip early 2007, and you have brought back wonderful memories, I simply must go back again.Thanks for all your info and a Happy New Year.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Day Ten: 2nd December, Picton to Wellington

Picton is the harbour from where ferries leave to go across the Cook Strait to the North Island. It's also on the rather lovely Queen Charlotte Sound. Dolphin Watch Ecotours run various boat trips into the Sound and I went on their 'Best of the Sound' cruise. I thought this was as enjoyable a boat trip as I did while I was in New Zealand, particularly for the variety of birds and sea mammals. It also helped that the weather was glorious and sunny.

The boat set off just after nine and sped up the Sound. After a short time seabirds began to appear. There were a hundred or more Fluttering Shearwaters, most of which were settled on the water. There were also several Blue Penguins and Australasian Gannets diving into the water and a single Fairy Prion.

The most sought after seabird in the area is the very rare King Shag, or Rough-faced Shag if you prefer (and frankly who wouldn't). I wasn't too sure how good my changes of seeing this species were, because the trip didn't go out to their breeding rocks. Fortunately, a large group of 31 were found roosting on some rocks on one of the islands and these gave very good views.

Dolphins were also performing wonderfully well with a small group of Dusky Dolphins bowriding in the clear waters and a three Hector's Dolphins appearing for a short time, showing the strange and characteristic rounded dorsal fin.

I spent around forty minutes on the island sanctuary of Motuara, which was thick with the sound of Bellbirds. A very tame New Zealand Robin was by the small pond near the landing and further up I watched an accommodating Kereru perched in a tree. At Ship Cove, Captain Cook's base in New Zealand, an inquisitive family of Weka were in the picnic area together with a rather more cautious family of Paradise Shelduck.

In the afternoon I was back out into the Sound on the Interislander ferry to Wellington. I didn't see too much until the boat was out into the Cook Strait, which seemed to be absolutely covered with Fairy Prions - several hundred at least. After about three hours the ferry docked at a breezy Wellington and I was off to the airport to catch a flight to Auckland, where I was going to be spending the rest of my stay.

Photies:
1. The Interislander comes into Picton
2&3. Some views of Queen Charlotte Sound
4. A view from Motuara
5. Ship Cove

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

1. Blue Penguins, not looking particularly blue if truth be told
2. Fluttering Shearwater
3. Around 5% of the world's King Shags
4. A Kereru on Motuara. Very small heads
5. An Australasian Gannet

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Mutha, fatha, Weka

1-4. Weka providing entertainment for the punters at Ship Cove
5. Paradise Shelduck taking a more circumspect approach

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

The all round loveliness of Dusky Dolphins.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

1&2. Some passable Fairy Prion shots
3. Coming into Wellington

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Day Twelve: December 4th, Tiritiri Matangi

I had a 'rest day' on the 3rd, but on 4th I caught the boat from the centre of Auckland to the island sanctuary of Tiritiri Matangi. Once again the weather was very fine.

On arriving on the island, and after being given the requisite talk by the DOC ranger, I walked the short distance uphill to a small pond I'd read about in numerous trip reports. This pond is really tiny, but birds are sometimes easily concealed on it. Despite this, I soon saw the hoped for Brown Teal - a female that clambered up the bank to peck about in the undergrowth.

I then walked along the various forest trails, through some recently planted and more mature woodland. Saddlbacks were rather common and noisy throughout and I soon encountered my first Whiteheads of the trip, rather cute, round-headed warbler type things. Tui and Bellbirds were both very numerous and were feeding on the many flowering trees. Red-crowned Parakeets were seen from time to time.

One of the birds I was particularly hoping to see was Stitchbird, a species confined to offshore sanctuaries like Tiritiri. I had good views of a pair in some flowering trees and later saw them at various spots elsewhere. These are lovely, delicate looking honeyeaters.

Around the middle of the day I was walking along the central ridge of the island, through some not particularly promising looking woodland, when I heard a quite unearthly sound that immediately stopped me in my tracks. Suspecting it might be a bird I was keen to see, I made a careful search. It took a few minutes before I glimpsed a surprisingly large, jay-sized bird scampering furtively along the branches. Then I got better views: a beautiful blue-wattled Kokako. These are fabulous and unusual looking birds, with quite long legs and short wings. They seem to run through the trees rather than flying. But its really the sounds they make that set them apart. I guess the best description I can give is of someone playing a harmonica very mournfully. That doesn't really do it justice though. Have a listen here or here. A second bird appeared for a short time, before they scampered off into the trees.

Later in the day, I found a few Brown Quail scuttling about the forest floor, their movements revealed by the dry leaves. These are an introduced Australian bird, that I think I vote as my favourite non-native species of the trip. It's always good to see a quail anywhere. On a small pond I found another female Brown Teal, this time with six tiny ducklings in tow.

Around the visitor centre, a few Pukeko were stalking about the grassland (or Purple Gallinules, if you prefer). I was hoping to see their flightless and hairy relative the Takahe in this area but was having no luck. After a while I bumped into the DOC officer and asked him for any tips. He said they had young at the moment, so he was reluctant to say anything. Then he paused and said 'Well, you seem like a pretty chilled out sort of bloke, so follow me.' We walked just a short distance to an area of scrub and grass where he said he'd seen a pair with a young one about twenty minutes before. They weren't in view at the time, although the runs they'd made in the grass were easy to see. We walked a bit further round the corner and met with some success though. I watched two adult Takahe for a few minutes, furtively picking through the vegetation, and briefly glimpsed the youngster. None of your nicking your lunch from out of your hands, which is what I've read they're known to do at other times.

Walking back to the boat I saw another Brown Quail and some more Red-crowned Parakeets. I stopped again by the pond, seeing the female Brown Teal again. With half an hour or so till the boat left I thought I'd wait to see if another hoped-for bird appeared. It didn't take too long for a Spotless Crake to creep around the back of the pool. In fact it did this twice - a very smart looking bird, coal black underneath with a red eye and legs.

Tiritiri is a wonderful place. In some respects it can seem rather artificial, with so many colour ringed birds and supplementary feeders. But, like Ulva and Motuara, it can give a real sense of how distinctive and remarkable the native birds of New Zealand are and how much like another world it must have seemed to the first settlers, both Polynesian and European.

1. Saddleback
2. Tui
3. A baby Whitehead
4. A not very good shot of a Stitchbird
5. Female Brown Teal and followers.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

1. A typically friendly Fantail
2. A Pukeko. Not as good as a Takahe, but okay
3. Brown Quail
4. Red-crowned Parakeet
5. Spotless Crake

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Here's one of the Kokako, peering through the trees.

I've also added a recording I made in Tiri - mostly Tui and Whiteheads I think.