Calling for interest - 4-day live-aboard pelagic - Three Kings March 2011

Had a call from our northern skipper Tank Barker this morning.  We have penciled in a fifth 4-day pelagic for 2 -5 March 2011, leaving from Houhora in the north, and heading up to the beautiful Three Kings Islands.  We generally manage (weather permitting) two nights anchored near them, and head out to different areas near to the Three Kings to chum and look for seabirds and marine mammals.  We have had some excellent trips with some mega-birds for NZ recorded (first live record of Gould's petrel for New Zealand in 2007), and some excellent photographic opportunities.  Each year has been different, and we hope that a slightly earlier trip in 2011 will yield some more of the sub-tropical species, such Gould's, white-naped, and Kermadec petrel.

Trip reports from the previous trips (except the 2010 trip which is due to be posted at some stage soon...woops, bit late!) can be found on our Wrybill Birding Tours, NZ website here.

This trip is strictly a cost-share trip, we basically just split the cost between those on the trip.  It normally runs around NZ$1250 per person for the full trip, including food, and we generally eat very well with a lot of fresh fish.  Depending on how well I go on the diving front we generally also have crayfish for dinner, lunch, and breakfast!

If you are interested, or know of anyone who would be, please get them to email me as soon as possible as we need to confirm with Tank in the next few days.  I've posted a few photos below to whet the appetite and make you drool!

Probable New Caledonia subspecies of Gould's petrel, first live record for the species off New Zealand was during this trip in 2007

Long-tailed skua, a relatively rare vagrant for New Zealand, seen on several of the Three Kings trips we have done

Black-winged petrel, one of the Pterodromas commonly recorded during this trip

Kermadec petrel, again rarely reported for the mainland of New Zealand, but seen on each of our Three Kings trips

The spoils of diving, a couple of good sized crayfish

Eating well, crayfish wraps!

This is the end...

Up and away early, we still had to try for Baillon’s crake again, and further views of black stilt were on offer.  So we left the accommodation at 0700 hrs and headed off towards Twizel.  Some more nice scope views of black stilt, this time without the rain.  It threatened, but thankfully didn’t come.  We then headed to look for Baillon’s crake again, this time without the pouring rain.  However, the early morning and dry skies didn’t seem to make a difference, and trying several spots we had to admit defeat!  So it was then on the road and heading for Christchurch.

We discussed the highlights of the trip along the way, with most agreeing that the Stewart Island pelagic and the clouds of albatross around the boat was a top contender.  Also featuring was the Hauraki Gulf pelagic (with the greater diversity of species, including of course NZ storm-petrel) and the falcon experience at Boundary Stream.  All in all an excellent trip, and I hope one that will be remembered for a long time.

Last night we had all done our top five bird species of the trip (surprisingly no pies made it), but the top contender, well in the lead, was the Southern brown kiwi on Stewart Island.  This had obviously left an impression on all.  Tied for second and third place were wrybill and North Island kokako, with NZ falcon a close fourth, and Southern Royal albatross coming in at fifth place.  All this information, along with the daily checklist, and trip report will be posted on our Wrybill Birding Tours, NZ website in the next few days...when I get some sleep and some time!

As we rolled northwards we crossed the Ashburton River where there was probably about 1000 black-billed gulls nesting just below the SH1 road bridge.  An awesome spectacle, and nice finish to the tour.  We arrived at the motel in Christchurch, checked in, and unloaded the vehicle and said our good-byes.

I then got back on the road and headed through to Kaikoura to catch up with Jo and Alex at Encounter Kaikoura.  Had a quick coffee and caught up with them for a bit and then back in the saddle to get to Picton in time for the 1805 ferry sailing.  Not even any time for Grassmere or the Blenheim sewage ponds!

Spent a bit of time outside on the ferry.  Slight seas with a bit of wind, but not a lot around.  Did see a single Westland petrel, single Cape petrel, small flock of 6 sooty shears, a few fairy prion, a single distant great albatross, and two white-capped albatross...guess that's not bad for half an hour!  Overnighting with friends Nick and Sherylene in Wellington.

Trip total -

161 species, plus heard great-spotted kiwi.

Rain and black stilts

A slightly later start this morning saw drizzly rain as we left Oamaru at 0800 hrs.  We have been incredibly lucky with the weather on this trip, so couldn't grumble too much!  We headed northwards and then cut inland towards Omarama, making a quick stop to see a small flock of black-fronted terns feeding over wet fields.  They were quartering the fields, and dipping down to catch earthworms and other invertebrates on the surface.  Really nice views of these little beauties.

Carrying on we grabbed some sandwiches in Omarama and then headed towards Twizel, stopping to get nice scope views of at least five black stilt.  There were several immature birds still showing a fair amount of white on the face, but at least one full adult and another with just a small patch of white.  The last pressure endemic was in the bag, and what a cracking bird it is too.  They really are a stunning bird, and such a shame there are so few.

We then carried on to Lake Poaka, where we searched for more black stilts, but found none.  However, a consolation was several banded dotterel and a sharp-tailed sandpiper.  Perhaps this was the same bird from Miranda that had travelled south to farewell Art?  Certainly a strange site for this species, which is normally found on the coast in NZ.

Heading still further north we visited Mount John where we looked for Chukar in the rain, finally finding a pair which were rather obliging, as well as a pair of falcon nearby.  At least the rain couldn’t dampen our spirits...although it did a little while later as we search for Baillon’s (marsh) crake in the rain, giving up as the rain got heavier.  We’ll give it another go in the morning.  Forecast looks a little dubious for the morning, but we will see what happens.  Staying at the Ahuriri Motels which are very nice!

Black-fronted tern quartering fields in the rain

One of the hydro canals

Juvenile black stilt

The gang looking at wrybill on the breeding grounds

Bird of the day – Black stilt x3, wrybill x2, chukar x1

Day total –

Seen = 42 + 1 heard (grey warbler); new for the trip = 2; total for the trip to date = 161

A yellow-eyed or two

Yesterday, we said good-bye to Stewart Island on the 0800 hrs ferry, with another very smooth crossing in a very light breeze.  Not an awful lot of birds, but about 8-10 Fiordland crested penguins at the mouth of Half Moon Bay, and then small rafts of little penguins further out.  The odd white-capped albatross flew past, several brown skua, and lots of common diving petrel and Cape petrel.

We arrived back in to Bluff, loaded the van, and then had a quick look along the shoreline at the flocks of terns just in case there was something interesting, before then getting on the road and driving towards Owaka.  We quickly grabbed some sandwiches and headed to a beach nearby to check out if there were any New Zealand sea lions present, and there was a single large sub-adult male on the beach.  He was fairly mobile, and we got good views of him before he disappeared into the surf.  We then finished our lunch and then headed northwards, making a quick stop and finally (!) finding a little owl perched in the sun, obviously enjoying a little bit of warmth.  Great views of it in the scope for Art, as this was a life bird for him.

Continuing onwards we scooted through Dunedin and had a quick look at Tomahawk Lagoon, where a common sandpiper had been seen earlier in the month, but not in the last week or so.  We scoured the edges, particularly around the outlet near the road, but didn’t find it.  Some very confiding Royal spoonbill in breeding plumage were a nice bonus though.

A quick stop for take-away coffee (and slices) before heading through the city and continuing northwards – next stop Oamaru.  We headed straight for the yellow-eyed penguin colony at Bushy Beach and walked along the top to the platform and waited.  The sea was flat calm with very little wind and we could see large rafts of Hutton’s shearwaters feeding offshore, flying backwards and forewards.  There was also at least 2-3 Salvin’s and a couple of white-capped albatross, several giant petrels, and a Cape petrel.  Lots of spotted and Stewart Island shag were flying past and feeding also.  We waited some time, as the numbers of people watching expectantly also grew.  Then finally a bird came swimming ashore, clearly visible whilst underwater in the clear water.  It came ashore, but fairly quickly was out of sight below the cliffs.  Then I found a bird high on the cliff quite a way along that had obviously just stepped out from the bushes and was preening, and finally a third came ashore and stood on the beach preening for some time.  We had excellent scope views of these birds, and decided we had had good enough views and headed for the accommodation, then dinner.

New Zealand sea lion

The beautiful Bushy Point, Oamaru

Yellow-eyed penguin ashore and walking towards home...

Bird of the day – Yellow-eyed penguin x5, NZ sea lion x1

Day total – Seen = 54; new for the trip = 1; total for the trip to date = 159

Day of the albatross

Yesterday was a cracker of a day on the water!  We headed out at 0830 hrs on Aurora, with Ty as skipper and Colin as deck-hand (sorry Colin!), with light winds and relatively flat conditions on the northern side of the island.  Our aim was to get around to the South to Port Pegasus, the best spot for Antarctic terns, and to chum out off the island in a couple of places to draw in albatross and petrels and anything else that might be floating around.  Before we had even left the wharf we had a Fiordland crested penguin showing itself right beside the boat...a good start!

We made our way slowly along the northern coast, seeing a few more Fiordland crested and looking out for yellow-eyed penguins.  Stewart Island shags were about the place, and we checked the white-fronted terns carefully for anything showing a red bill.  We spotted some NZ sea lions (Hooker’s sea lions) on a beach a wee way off, and we passed Ocean Beach w here we had seen kiwi so well the night before.

Several more Fiordland crested penguins were seen in the water, and seen really well, before we then spotted a couple of yellow-eyed penguins as well.  They were doing their best to make it hard for us to see them, but in the end everyone had good views.  We ripped out to Wreck Reef, a small reef not far off the island, and chummed for a little while with blue cod heads and frames (we’d probably consumed the fillets last night at the restaurant!).  With a stiff westerly wind, albatross were pretty quick to arrive and we soon had good numbers of white-capped with a few Salvin’s, before the first of the Southern Royal albatross arrived.  They squabbled and fought over the chum and we had excellent views of these birds in action.

After half an hour or so we headed back towards the island and continued around towards Port Pegasus.  A lot more Fiordland penguins were found at a couple of locations, including up on  the rocks giving nice views.  The sun was poking through every now and then and we had beaut views of the island and it’s rugged terrain and thick vegetation.  Heading past The Sisters (incorrectly named the Brothers on charts) we then headed to a spot where Colin has found Antarctic terns many times.  We had about 40-50 white-fronted terns on the rocks in front of us, with several pairs nesting up in the low vegetation.  Scanning, scanning, no red bills...hmmmm!  Then, I spotted a strange tern down low on a rock with several white-fronteds.  Everyone got onto it and the bird was definitely smaller, with long tail and wings, shorter legs, but a black bill and moulting cap.  I called Arctic tern, before we all figured something didn’t quite add up...  The legs were just too long and the bill too long also, and although it had somewhat the right shape, the jizz was wrong.  We realised it had to be a sub-adult Antarctic tern...we’d got our poles wrong!  Still searching for red bills, we came up with nothing, but another small tern was spotted by Matt Jones who was also on the trip.  This bird was a definite Arctic tern, smaller, dumpier, with darkish belly and flanks, very short red legs, and shorter deeper based bill – what a cracker!  We had three species of terns right there in front of us.  We got some photos, soaked it all up and then headed off to another spot to look for more Antarctic terns...this time hopefully an adult.  As we approached a bunch of terns on the rocks I found another Arctic tern amongst a small flock of feeding white-fronteds, and we then got close to the rocks in big swell (great driving Ty) and managed to find a stonking adult Antarctic tern in full breeding with blood red bill and legs.  It had it’s back to us most of the time due to the wind, but every now and then turned it’s head giving nice views.  Hand holding the 800mm in 25 knots of wind in big swell was no easy task (!) but I managed to get a few reasonable record shots.

We then decided to head out into the deep blue, and headed about 18 miles off to the ‘Southern Traps’.  As we got out into deeper water we threw chum overboard and shortly had a cloud of albatross behind the boat...it really was a sight to behold.  Mostly, white-capped we also had several black-browed, a good number of Southern Royals and fair percentage of Salvin’s.  Everyone was pretty chuffed with the spectacle, and as we approached our destination the first mottled petrels went past.  We also suddenly got into good numbers of common diving-petrels and fairy prions, with the odd Buller’s shearwater.  We stopped and then chummed for about 45 minutes to an hour, with probably more than 200 albatross around us – up to 12 Southern Royals at one time, and a single Wandering joined us as well.  Mottled petrels continued to pass and good numbers of sooty shearwaters as well, plus several white-chinned petrels.  It was just awesome watching these birds wheeling around the boat and dropping to the water to squabble for the fish frames.  Something not to forget!

Unfortunately, the day was getting on, and with a big run back towards home we started on our way, still throwing chum over.  Lots more mottled petrels ended up going past during the trip towards ‘North Traps’, as well as more fairy prions, and the cloud of albatross followed.  The number of birds steadily dwindled as the supply of chum did, and as we got closer to home.  An absolutely fantastic day, with no real stand-out rarities, but massive numbers of birds more than making up for it.

Fiordland crested penguin looking grumpy (and fat pre-moult)

It really is Stewart Island...honest...and the sky wasn't photo-shopped!

Arctic tern...little stunner!

Beautiful adult breeding plumage Antarctic tern with white-fronted terns

White-capped albatross in flight

Salvin's albatross coming past the boat silhouetted against Stewart Island

White-capped albatross

Salvin's albatross

Mid-air between white-capped (bottom) and Salvin's (top) albatross

Southern Royal, bird of the day, coming in for some chum

Bird of the day – Southern Royal albatross x5, Fiordland crested penguin x1

Day total –
Seen = 34 + 0 heard; new for the trip = 4; total for the trip to date = 158