New Zealand Part 7

New Zealand Trip Report Part 7

Thursday Feb 20^th

We left our motel at 7.00 and had one last try for the Cirl Bunting. After one playback a female bunting appeared on a wire but there was a bit of debate as to whether it was our target or a Yellowhammer as it was against the light. However there was no doubt as to the second bird that flew up to the wires – a male Cirl Bunting which even sang back.

Cirl Bunting

We had a bit of driving to do today but we made a few stops, one briefly at a lake where there were some NZ Scaup and Grey Teal, and secondly at Ashley Estuary where we spent quite a bit of time. We checked out an inlet looking for Little Egret, Black Stilt and Terek Sandpiper, all of which had been present here. We soon found the Terek, another rare vagrant to NZ. We almost found the Black Stilt which initially looked all black but further examination in the scope revealed some white patches making it a hybrid.

Paradise Shelduck

We walked along the beach to check the roosting tern flock. At first it was just White-fronted Terns but shortly a Common Tern flew in, another one of our target birds. This bird, like most NZ records is of the longipennis subspecies.

roosting tern flock

Common Tern (left foreground) with White-fronted Terns

We carried on driving and made a stop at the famous Sheffield Pie Shop where we grabbed lunch. As we were driving to our designated lunch stop a NZ Falcon flew past and we screeched to a halt as we’d seen it land in a hedge. It remained there long enough to grab a few quick photos before it flew off. 

NZ Falcon

At our lunch stop we consumed our tasty pies and quite a few of us followed it up with a Lamington cake, a NZ speciality.

The afternoon was mostly spent driving up through the mountains where the peak was 1700m. Shortly after going through the pass we stopped at a little town to look for Kea. It only took a few seconds as we could see some tourists taking photos outside the café. Sure enough, as we stopped and got out a couple of Keas were poking around the café, sitting on and under tables and generally causing chaos as they do best.

Kea

We went to a viewpoint which not only offered spectacular views of the river valley and a waterfall that was featured in Lord of the Rings, but another Kea. This one was doing what they’re famous for and nibbling cars and the tyre of a mountain bike that was on the back of a van. It also had a go at people’s shoes and clothes.

Now I'll have to spend 9 hours watching LoTR to find this waterfall!

Makes a change from pigeons

Why did the Kea cross the road?

...to eat Bradley's cap

Moa once roamed this area

We left it to its own devices and went for a short walk in the woods seeing two Brown Creeper, Rifleman and Tomtit before heading to our motel for the night where we had spectacular views from our rooms looking down a mountain valley with a river running through it..

View from bedroom window, makes a change from Dagenham!

We went out after dinner to try and hear Great Spotted Kiwi but only heard a few Morepork.

Friday Feb 21^st

A leisurely late start with a little walk around the grounds before a buffet breakfast in the restaurant. 

Getting ready for a hot breakfast!

We left the motel at 8.30 and made a few stops, seeing Chamois, a distant Blue Duck and our first Great Egret of the trip.

More Moa

Common Redcoat

Tomtit

We followed up a recent report of a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper on some ponds and got our best views yet of this wader. 

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

At our lunch stop a Weka was seen feeding close in a grassy field. In the afternoon we saw another NZ Falcon then met up with our guide, Ian, for the evening who gave us an introductory talk.

Weka

We checked into our motel then had an early dinner in the local Chinese/Thai restaurant. It was then time to head into the forest where Ian explained how we would be looking for the Okarito Brown Kiwi. He monitors the population here and has radio-tagged several males. The one we would be trying for was soon located roosting close to the path but unfortunately when it woke up it headed away from us deep into the forest.

We then split up and stood apart to see if we could detect the female or chick by hearing it walk in the forest. After almost an hour we were summoned urgently and ran back along the track in the dark. We quickly formed a line and as the torch was shone we glimpsed it heading into cover. Luckily it emerged again a few seconds later and got good views before it once again headed into the forest. We waited to see if it might come back but the telemetry indicated it was heading away so we called it a night and headed back to our motel.