New Zealand Part 9

New Zealand Trip Report Part 9

Tuesday Feb 25^th

After breakfast we headed down to the quay for another pelagic. As we walked along the harbour to the boat a Broad-nosed Seven-gilled Shark was seen. 

We boarded the boat along with three other birders and left at 7.50. We cruised slowly along the rocky shore, seeing Foveaux’s Shag and a few Fiordland Crested Penguins before heading to the open sea.

Fiordland Crested Penguin

Sooty Shearwater was the most abundant bird of the day with maybe 8,000 seen. They were present all day, either flying past or in rafts numbering up to the hundreds. 

Sooty Shearwater

White-fronted and Black-fronted Terns were seen feeding by islets and White-capped Albatrosses cruised by. A few Common Diving Petrels were seen.

White-capped (rear) & Salvin's Albatross

White-capped (front) & Buller's Albatross

(Left to right) Salvin's, White-capped & Buller's Albatross

Southern Royal Albatross (centre)

Foveaux's Shag

We stopped the boat and created a chum slick and as the birds came in our skipper started feeding the attendant albatrosses. We had four species present around the boat: White-capped were the dominant species with some Buller’s, Salvin’s and the larger Southern Royal. We spent several hours in the area and pulled in a few other birds such as Fairy Prion, Cook’s Petrel, Hutton’s Shearwater and White-chinned Petrel. Only the occasional Northern Giant-Petrel came in, unlike our earlier pelagics.

Buller's Albatross (with mango-edged bill)

Cape Petrel

Salvin's Albatross

Southern Royal Albatross

White-capped Albatross & Cape Petrel

White-capped Albatross

At one point we were surrounded by over 150 White-capped Albatross and many followed us when we headed back. In the afternoon we had a Pomarine and two Long-tailed Skuas, a few White-faced Storm-Petrels and a Mottled Petrel before it was time to head back to port, arriving mid-afternoon. We had the rest of the afternoon to chill out and catch up on notes and photos.

View from our accommodation

New Zealand Part 6

New Zealand Trip Report Part 6

Wednesday Feb 19^th

We tried a couple of spots around Kaikoura for Cirl Bunting but couldn’t find any. Along the shore and off to sea there was Black-fronted Dotterel, our first Hutton’s Shearwater, Spotted Shag, Black-fronted Tern, Dusky Dolphin and NZ Fur Seal.

Spotted Shag

Starfish

It was then time for one of the highlights of the trip – the legendary Kaikoura Pelagic. 

We boarded the boat on dry land

We left at 9.20 and headed a short way out to sea. The conditions were good with a gentle breeze and just a little swell. It didn’t take long for the Northern Giant Petrels to find us and these marine garbage disposal units were practically ever present for the two hours we were at sea. With albatrosses also beginning to appear off the wake we made our first of several stops and dropped the fish bait – a large plastic basket containing fish with mesh sides so that the birds could only rip pieces off rather than devour the lot in one sitting.

Arctic Skua chasing a White-fronted Tern

Cape Petrel

Northern Giant Petrel

A NZ Wandering Albatross dominated the first stop, fighting off the Giant Petrels with its large bill and a lot of vocal warnings. Both species of Royal Albatross flew around the boat with the occasional Northern stopping to investigate. Salvin’s and White-capped made the albatross list to five species but neither took any food. Cape Petrels came in to investigate but they were no match for the bigger species so had to be content with sitting on the water in the back row snaffling any small snacks that drifted their way.

NZ Wandering Albatross & Northern Giant Petrel

NZ Wandering Albatross

Northern Royal Albatross & Cape Petrel

Salvin's Albatross & Cape Petrel

Salvin's (left) & White-capped Albatross

Salvin's Albatross

White-capped Albatross

Four species of shearwater: the now familiar flocks of Fluttering, occasional Buller’s, some distant Hutton’s and a single Cook’s flew past or sat on the sea but none seemed interested in the fish handouts. White-chinned and the similar-looking Westland Petrel made several close fly-bys but there were no storm-petrels.

Buller's Shearwater

Fluttering Shearwater

Westland Petrel

It was a great experience being out on the sea in a small boat within touching distance of these great oceanic wanderers and one I had wanted to do for a long time since I first read about the Kaikoura pelagics.

After a couple of hours we headed back to the harbour and dry land. There was time to visit their gift shop before the inevitable bakery shop stop for lunch which we had back at the motel. The afternoon was a rest half-day so I caught up on my notes and photos as well as making a short walk to the supermarket to stock up on snacks.

An odd looking House Sparrow