Well again it has been a while since a blog update. I’ve been laying pretty low the last few
weeks as I’ve been working at trying to get my image library organised. Part of this is due to the fact a little
organisation is long overdue, but mostly because I have been working with my
co-author – Paul Scofield from Canterbury Museum – on getting closer to
finishing our book! We have had
something in the pipeline for a few years now, and are finally getting closer
to have something completed. The book
will be ‘The Photographic guide to the Birds of New Zealand’ and will of course
mostly feature my photographs. But as
can be expected – and sometimes for the most bizarre species – there are gaps
which will be filled by other local New Zealand photographers. Auckland University Press are publishing it
and we will hopefully have it out by the end of 2012. So all pretty exciting!
As well as working on this, we had our sixth annual Three
Kings pelagic. We had a great crew
onboard and Tank our skipper looked after us well as per usual. Lots of fish, a few crayfish, and as per
usual we ate very well. We normally have
four days out on the water, and this was the plan again this year, but a
‘weather bomb’ was forecast to hit with 40+ knot winds forecast for the last
day, so we came in a day early. Why they
call them weather bombs these days I have no idea, we used to just call them
storms didn’t we?
The three days we had out were great, not quite the mega
trip of last year, with water temperatures being lower than at the same time
last year, and therefore influencing the birds we encountered. We had good numbers of skuas, including great
views of a long-tailed that came and hung around the back of the boat for a
good few minutes. This was the first
trip we encountered all five species of skua that occur in New Zealand. We got a few white-naped and Kermadec
petrels, but not in their usual numbers, although a lot of Cookilaria petrels,
mostly Cook’s, but a few probable Pycroft’s as well.
A brief trip report written by Sav is below...
Hi all,
Hi all,
The 6th annual Wrybill Birding Tours pelagic to the North of
the NZ mainland was undertaken during 29 Feb - 2 March (curtailled by one day
by the "weather bomb"!).
Participants: Steve Wood, Phil Hammond, Richard Fenner, Tim
Barnard, Neil Robertson, Brent and Sav (WBT, organisers) and Tank Barker,
skipper of "Demelza".
By our own high standards this was only really an average
trip bird-wise, but still pretty amazing!!
We were almost constantly accompanied by several Balck
Petrels, Flesh-footed Shearwaters, Buller's Shearwaters and White-faced Storm-petrels.
Fluttering Shearwaters were present in all inshore situations, and Cook's
Petrels were particularly numerous compared to previous trips. There were also many White-capped and NZ
(Gibson's) Albatross.
Other highlights were:
New Zealand Storm-petrel : seen each day, with a probable
total of over 13 birds. 2 at a time on 3 occasions.
Wilson's Storm-petrel : also seen each day. At least 10
individuals.
Grey-faced Petrel : surprisingly few. About 8 diffent birds.
Black-winged Petrel : less than 20
White-naped Petrel : 9 individuals at least. 2 and 3 at
once.
Kermadec Petrel : one intermediate phase.
Long-tailed Skua : 6 different birds, including an amazing
adult which just showed off at the back of the boat!
South Ploar Skua : one
Pomarine Skua : one superb adult. (plus Arctic and Brown
Skua to make a clean sweep!!)
Add in a few Buller's Albatross, Sooty Shearwater, Bryde's
Whale, jumping Sunfish, Marlins, Flying Fish and a host of brilliant fish
caught for food and you can see it was a great trip all up.
There was also a very puzzling pterodroma petrel which we
can't agree on an id - yet..............
Next year's trip will be at about the same time, so if you
are interested - let us know soon.
So as I write this I’m now sitting on a plane somewhere
between Miami and Manaus, about to get on the Clipper Adventurer for a ‘Jungle
Rivers’ cruise. We start in Belem,
Brazil, with a few days in the Amazon, before heading up the coast through
Suriname, French Guiana, Guyana, and Tobago before ending in Trinidad. Should be an awesome trip with a bunch of new
birds and mammals. I’m onboard as
Assistant Expedition Leader and Photographer/Zodiac Driver/General Naturalist
so should get some great photo opportunities.
It’s a part of the World I have dreamt of visiting since I was a kid,
reading rainforest and tropics books, so pretty excited! Hopefully can post a few updates from the
trip on here, so stay tuned!
PS - Just managed to post this. We are currently sitting waiting for clearance out of Brazil after an incredible couple of days in the Amazon - Wow! I can't believe it has taken me this long to get to this part of the World, and boy am I coming back at some stage. Just amazing...more soon and photos to be posted here when I get a decent internet connection!
Buller's albatross coming in for food |
New Zealand albatross landing |
New Zealand albatross - possibly Antipodean - coming in to land |
Buller's shearwater passing |
Wilson's storm-petrel bouncing |
Black-winged petrel |
White-naped petrel |
White-capped albatross gorging |
Flesh-footed shearwater in flight |
New Zealand storm-petrel, one of a number seen |
New Zealand storm-petrel banking sharply |
Long-tailed skua coming in |
Long-tailed skua showing off |
Long-tailed skua upperwing with diagnostic dark trailing edge to wing |
Long-tailed skua hovering |
Cook's petrel |
White-faced storm-petrel bouncing |
Cook's petrel |
Cook's petrel underwing |
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