Day fifteen - FALCON!!!!

Up a little later after our kiwi encounter – even though it hadn’t been a late one. The mountains were clear of cloud and it looked like it was going to be a stunning day.  We packed the van and headed to a little forest walk, where we saw a few things like tomtit, grey gerygone, etc.  The views were spectacular, but the glacier was a little on the shrivelled side!  The rate at which it is receding up the valley is truly frightening.

We headed back to the van, and drove towards Fox Glacier.  All eyes were on the lookout for our real target bird of the day – falcon.  Although we still have a couple of excellent days ahead where falcon is a possibility, leaving it to the last day is a little nerve-wracking!  There were a lot of great looking snags for a falcon to be sitting on and looking out for prey, but New Zealand pigeons seemed to be using them, and were often distracting as a flying shape was seen…. Keep looking guys!

We grabbed some lunch in Fox and stowed it in the cooler and then a few minutes down the road, BINGO!  The call went up for falcon and there in a dead tree beside the road was the familiar shape of a falcon.  It looked big, probably a female, and a young one at that.  As we stopped the van and jumped out the bird flew, chasing a sparrow or some small passerine.  But the chase seemed half hearted and she broke away and disappeared into the back of a large conifer.  Damn! But we quickly realised we could drive a little and get a different and closer angle, and so in doing that we got really great views of the bird perched.  We had the scopes on her and watched her for quite some time, before she flew to a different tree, where we again were able to scope her.  Very very cool – and it is not every day you are able to get scope views of a killer bird like this!

We then headed off, grabbed coffee, enjoyed the sunshine and some stunning views of the mountains – Tasman and Cook (Aoraki) both clearly visible.  Heading on further south along the coast we made a little stop to enjoy some Hector’s dolphins frolicking in the surf, and then a lunch stop, enjoying more beautiful scenery and sunshine.  Life was good!

Heading on further we passed Haast township and up into the hills from there, where the scenery became even more impressive.  We took another walk in the forest, finding a very cool harvestman crawling across the path, and lots of mosses and filmy ferns hanging from the beech trees. We found tomtit, grey gerygone, and then heard yellowhead further down the path.  Before long we had some in view, and they weren’t at the top of the beech trees which was nice of them.  They were almost at eye level and about 8-10 individuals put on a really good show.  Awesome little gems of the forest that they are.  We enjoyed them for some time and then set about searching for rifleman. The calls were everywhere, but they were playing hard to get.  But, finally we had a couple in view and had really nice prolonged views.  Let’s hope their cousins play nicely with us tomorrow!

We then head onwards to Wanaka, making some scenic stops along the way.  It sure is a beautiful part of the World.  We checked in to our accommodation and then headed to an early dinner.  Superb meal on the lake shore and then an early night.  It looks like rain tomorrow, and we have a rendezvous planned with a bobbing wren!

Bird of the day– Falcon x6, yellowhead x2

Going, going, gone...Franz Josef Glacier slips away into the valley

Falcon iPhone shot hand held through the scope...you get the picture

Blue skies, stunning scenery

Day fourteen - ROWI

We had a little lie in after kiwi hunting last night, and then, shock horror!  We had a cooked breakfast and relaxing start to the day!  The skies seemed to be looking a lot more positive, and as we made our way up and over Arthur’s Pass it certainly looked clearer.  We made a stop and found three kea, including a known bird that was rehabilitated after losing an eye.  Unfortunately, some tourists had left a banana and capsicum (!?) for them, so we picked this up and put it in a bag in the van to put in the trash.

We got some photos, enjoyed the scenery and the antics of the kea, and then carried on towards the West Coast.  We wanted to make a bee-line for the landslide that had closed the road for a couple of days, but was now open.  It was between Hari Hari and Whataroa, and we wanted to get it behind us so that Franz Josef and our night with Okarito kiwi was set in concrete.

We stopped quickly at a sewage ponds, where there were a lot of waterfowl – a good collection of scaup, shoveler, grey teal and mallard, with the odd Pacific black duck. Nothing out of the ordinary though. We then grabbed some lunches, refuelled and headed on a little further to a beautiful little spot with a lake and some nice forest.  We went for a walk first, managing to find a couple of weka, tomtit, and our first brown creeper.  Nice views of all, so a decent little spot.  And lunch in the sunshine with spectacular scenery was pretty enjoyable.

We carried on south, checking each and every snag and tree top for falcon.  Eyes were peeled, and not for the lack of trying did we fail.  The landslide was cleared enough to allow traffic through, one lane at a time, and sure was a pretty big one.  A huge amount of rock, mud and debris had been cleared thanks to the local contractors, and work was still underway.  We then carried on out to Okarito, meeting with Toby from Okarito Kiwi Tours, who gave us a run down on the approach for the evening’s kiwi trip.  All very exciting!

We then made a stop for fernbird, but despite hearing them, didn’t manage to see one. So we carried on in to Franz and checked in to our accommodation.  An hour or so to rest up, then a beaut dinner of Asian styles which was really good, and then back out to Okarito.  We met with our guide Mike and went through an intensive training regime, which most of us passed.  As it slowly got darker we moved into place, knowing exactly what to expect.  We knew our kiwi was pretty close, and every now and then could hear him cracking a twig or rustling through a fern.  After about 50 minutes, with some moving up and down with precision, we could hear him coming out towards us.  A pause, and then Mike slowly put the light on and there was an Okarito kiwi (Rowi) literally 4m in front of us all!  He paused, and then moved off along and across in front of us, before re-entering the bush.  A few moments later he let rip with about 15 calls – from just a few steps away from us – AWESOME!  We left him to his night, and headed off.  A massive thanks to Mike for a great bit of work getting us all in to the right position and showing us one very special bird!

Bird of the day– Okarito kiwi x8 (perhaps?!)

A rare bird makes an appearance

Kea playing up for the camera

Day thirteen - stilts

Rain, rain and rain…it hardly stopped all night.  It was still raining as we loaded the van, but as we headed south it seemed to be coming through in waves, perhaps we would push through it!  As we headed down along the coast, some of the roadwork stops gave us the opportunity to spot some dusky dolphins out close to shore. We made a quick stop at a small lake, lots of waterfowl around and also managed to get nice views of redpoll.  Heading on further south we stopped in at an estuary, where the tides was well in.  We searched the shoreline and found a few pied stilts, pied oystercatchers, etc and looking out further there were a few black-fronted terns, gulls, etc.  We relaxed as the tide started to recede and all of a sudden Pierre had a black stilt in the scope!  Excellent.  As the tide was dropping the bird started feeding out from where it must have been roosting, and we all got a good look at this critically endangered bird.  We spent a little more time looking at the stilt and watching godwit accumulate as the tide dropped, obviously coming from a high tide roost further up the estuary.

The weather was holding for us, but as we started to head inland we had more waves of rain come through.  The mountains were certainly not visible as we came to a small place to eat our lunch. The temperature was certainly cooler than we had experienced to date, and with warm layers and wind proof jackets on we munched on our sandwiches.

After lunch we continued inland, keeping a sharp eye for falcon.  We made a few scenic stops in between the showers, and as we got closer to Arthur’s Pass the rain actually eased off, although it was pretty windy in places.  We headed up through the village to a lookout site, where it was really windy.  A scan of the rivers and local hillsides revealed nothing of interest, so we headed back down and went for a short walk in the forest.  A kea did a nice fly-by before we entered the forest.  Beautiful beech forest surrounded us, as we wandered a trail. With the cool condition’s things were a little quiet, but we managed to get looks at South Island robin, tomtit, a glimpse of a rifleman, several fantails and grey gerygones, and bellbird. The forest was full of mosses and was our first introduction into the South Island beech forest, so nice to see some new plants as well.

We then headed back down, through the village and to our accommodation.  We checked in, admiring the spectacular views, and then had an early dinner.  After dinner we headed out in the hope of at least hearing a great-spotted kiwi.  We parked up, waited for it to get a little darker, the rain was holding off.  We headed to a spot, and of course it started to drizzle – and it was cold.  We waited as it grew steadily darker.  After a while the drizzle stopped, and we could see Orion and the Southern Cross.  And then a female started to call, perhaps about 100m away.  She called perhaps 20 times, and we waited, hoping a male would respond.  But after a bit with no response, we decided to head back to the van.  Excellent to have at least heard this very difficult to find bird!

Bird of the day– Kea x4, black stilt x4

The Waimakariri valley

The gang

Day twelve - baby albatross!

Up early, yep early!  It was dark outside, and still dark as we got on to the boat at South Bay.  Gazza was up early and we were out on the water before the sun was up.  With an impending front approaching, it was wise to get out and get a pelagic under our belt before it could ruin our plans.  So we headed out, found a fishing boat pulling in its catch and checked out a few of the albatross around it.  White-capped, Salvin’s and a few New Zealand wandering right there!  Very nice.

We then headed out further, the light was increasing and although the sun was not yet above the horizon we could easily see the birds following us.  Cape petrels, a New Zealand wandering albatross or two, and some Northern giant petrels as well.  We made it to our planned location and set the chum into the water.  Pretty soon the birds were gathering, and the Cape petrels were squabbling!  We had a good number of birds around, with both Westland and white-chinned petrel side by side for good comparisons, a few Buller’s shearwaters flitted past, as did some Hutton’s of course at more distance, but pretty darn close for them, and we also had a flesh-footed and a sooty drift past over the time we spent chumming.  We also had both Northern and Southern Royals, good numbers of New Zealand wandering, and a few each of white-capped and Salvin’s albatross.  But we also were visited by a very special bird – an absolute minter juvenile wandering albatross that looked like it had just flown from the nest.  There was even a wisp of down still on its neck!!! Amazing!  It hung around a little while, and then after not being fed by any adults, or allowed to get to the chum, it decided food had to be somewhere else. What a beautiful bird!

We spent a good bit of time chumming, but it was soon time to head back in.  We had certainly beaten the weather, with pretty nice conditions, and the Kaikoura ranges completely visible and uncloaked by cloud.  Back at South Bay be loaded up and headed back to the Albatross Encounter base, having a quick look around, grab a coffee, and then back to the Motel for a bit. James headed out on a dolphin watch, getting some pretty nice views of dusky, Hector’s and short-beaked common dolphins, and the rest of us took a break to do things at the accommodation.

Later in the morning we headed out exploring the local area, looking for shorebirds and cirl buntings.  We found some banded dotterel and also a female cirl, as well as a few other things of interest.  Then had a nice sit down lunch at the Albatross Encounter Café, before most headed out on a Whale Watch trip.  Sounds like pretty great views of a couple of sperm whale, so everyone had a great day. The weather deteriorated after that, with light rain and then by the time we finished up dinner it was absolutely hosing it down!  Let’s see what tomorrow brings!

Bird of the day– Cape petrel x3, Wandering albatross x2, Salvin’s albatross x2, Southern Royal albatross x1

Up before the sun has its advantages

Nice and close to the birds

The front approaches, but beautiful scenery

Day eleven - shagging about

The morning dawned a little breezy, but as we headed to the Picton marina and our boat, the wind seemed to drop and the skies look a little brighter. Excellent!  We jumped aboard our boat with skipper Andy and headed off into the Sound.  We cruised out towards to outer sounds, looking for wildlife, and our first planned spot for King shag looked a little empty, until we got the right angle and could see a single bird perched up there!  Andy brought the boat in quietly and slowly, and the bird sat happily as we got great views and photographs.  Nice views of a very range restricted and rare bird under the belt always feels good.  We then headed on further out, checking out some feeding groups of fluttering shearwaters and spotted shags.  Nice to see them actively feeding and doing their thing.  We carried on out, and before long came to a location we have seen King shags roosting at before, and we were in luck again with at least 32 birds present, including a number of juvenile birds in their browner plumages. We were able to again get great views of these, and some nice photographs, before leaving them in peace and heading on with our mornings’ plans.

Next up was a landing on one of the predator free islands here in Queen Charlotte Sound.  The waters were nice and calm, so Andy brought the boat in nicely and we disembarked and headed into the forest.  Weka were on the beach to greet us, but they were not the main target, so off we went. We gathered in a location that had been good to us in the past and waited, and waited, and waited.  Orange-fronted parakeets are definitely not an easy species, and despite the relatively still conditions, ideal for listening for calls, there wasn’t a parakeet to be heard.  We watched and waited, with the sharp eyes of James and Rick being the only ones to latch on to a parakeet that briefly stopped into a bush in front of the group.  The parakeet seemed to vanish into thin air – well the forest at least – and unfortunately for the rest of the group was not seen again.  Very frustrating, but well done to them for spotting the prize.

Our time was up and we needed to get back onto the boat, checking out a bay on the way to see if we could spot a Hector’s dolphin.  Unfortunately, they must have been in the same place as the orange-fronted parakeet (!!) as they were not evident either, and so we headed back down the Sound towards Picton.  Nothing new on the way back, but a great morning in a beautiful part of the country.

We loaded back into the van and headed off, stopping at a bakery in Blenheim to get some lunch and then eating it in the sunshine in the vineyards.  We kept eyes to the sky in the hope of perhaps seeing the long staying black kite, but nothing seen except a number of harriers. We then headed southwards, calling in at some sewage ponds.  Lots of Royal spoonbill and waterfowl, a dunnock for all the group to see, and then three juvenile cirl buntings.  We carried on, stopping next at a large wetland area, and there were a lot of gulls and over 50 black-fronted terns.  Stunning little birds, they were in a variety of plumages, mostly adults already moulted into non-breeding, but a few with a little more black still on the head, and also a few juveniles which is definitely nice to see with this endangered species.

Next stop was a small lake, more waterfowl, and then all of a sudden the targeted hoary-headed grebe was right there in front of us – literally 15m from us! Really nice views of this tidy little bird with its white bill tip.  Carrying on down the coast distant Hutton’s shearwaters were spotted, and then a small pod of around 8 Hector’s dolphins just in the murky water near the shore – nice to get these beautiful little endemic dolphins after not finding them this morning.  Carrying on we had several Northern giant petrels close to the shore, fur seals in their hundreds, and unfortunately cloud!  The cloud was building as we headed into Kaikoura, searching for little owl for a brief bit before checking in to our accommodation.  A lovely dinner of blue cod and chips on the BBQ tables at the accommodation allowed a quick dinner and chance to get out to look for little owl.  This time success as we found a bird perched on a branch, staying there for everyone to get great views and a few photographs!  An excellent end to a great day!

Bird of the day– King shag x6, orange-fronted parakeet x2

Our first King shag

The pickup