Long and the short of it was I had a pretty bad infection and needed antibiotics (would you believe today is the third day without booze!), and seems they didn't need me after all with great views of NZ storm-petrel, black-winged petrel, and all the usual suspects, plus three Bryde's whales, common dolphins, massive blue sharks and sunfish! Way to make a guy feel unwanted!
Bird of the day – New
Zealand storm-petrel x4, white-faced storm-petrel x1, weka x2
Day total – Seen
= 38; new for the trip = 16; total for the trip to date = 84
So yesterday we were up and rested, heading away with overnight bags
packed...possibly the smallest overnight bags I’ve ever seen! Not sure what that means but I guess we will
find out on the island. We headed off
towards Gulf Harbour, again with the sun shining, and arrived to find a reef
egret and white-faced heron side by side on the rock wall near the pier. Nice comparison.
The ferry arrived and we headed out to the island with about
100 school kids...glad we are staying over night and have a few hours on the
island without anyone else. Pretty quiet
crossing with only a single flesh-footed shearwater seen until we got to the
island and could see out beyond where there was a flock of white-fronted terns
feeding and at least one, probably two Arctic skuas (parasitic jaeger) wheeling
around amongst the terns. There was also
at least one, possibly more Buller’s shears, and may have been more but too
distant.
We headed up for the briefing and then up through the trails
to the bunkhouse. On the way it was hard
to miss the whiteheads, bellbirds, and tui on the way, and there were plenty of
stitchbirds around the feeders and elsewhere.
We checked into the bunkhouse, unpacked, had lunch and then had a rest
before heading out again in the afternoon.
We headed back down to the wharf and sat beside one of the
ponds waiting, waiting, and waiting. A
brief glimpse of a spotless crake spurred us on and eventually we were rewarded
with awesome prolonged views of a spotless crake feeding along the edge of the
pond. The brown teal pair and ducklings
had kept us entertained right the way through the wait, and a fernbird even
popped up right beside us about 1.5m away, so a pretty nice way to spend the
afternoon. We then headed slowly back up
to the bunkhouse and finally managed to get a good view of a kokako having not
heard a peep from one all day.
Back at the bunkhouse we had possibly the best meal of the trip
(I have to say that because I cooked it!), BBQ steak and lamb, with salad and
potatoes, followed up with dark chocolate for dessert...mmmmmmm! We then headed out for our nocturnal ramble,
heading right the way down to the other end of the island. No kiwi called until 2100 which was a bit of
a shock, and shortly thereafter we had great views of a morepork which sat
perched and then hovered right above us, perfect! A bit further on we had a pretty good sized
tuatara right on the track and had really nice close-up views. We walked back towards the bunkhouse thinking
a kiwi was going to jump out at any stage (in fact by this stage I was thinking
the damn things had gone back to bed!), and we were within 2 minutes of the
bunkhouse when we found a kiwi right beside the road. We ended up having excellent prolonged views,
possibly some of the best I’ve had of this species, so very very happy. A short walk back to the bunkhouse for a milo
and bed!
Bird of the day –
Little spotted kiwi x5, saddleback x1, stitchbird x1
Day total – Seen
= 47 + 1 heard (little blue penguin); new for the trip = 12; total for the trip
to date = 96
The manuka is currently in flower...yeah yeah, I know this is a BIRDING trip! |
Male stitchbird near one of the feeders |
Male bellbird |
Sacred kingfisher against the sky |
Brown teal getting jiggy... |
...and all in front of junior! |
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