We awoke to a stunning looking day, with a
light breeze (perhaps too light!), and sunny clear conditions. We headed off, grabbed some lunch and then
headed for the Sandspit Boat Ramp, stopping quickly for a rather showy
buff-banded rail that was feeding right out on the open lawn beside the
mangroves. A nice start! We met Brett our fantastic skipper on the ‘Assassin’,
and with bags stowed, cameras and bins out, and anticipation in the air we
headed out the Kawau Channel towards the open ocean.
Barely had we left the channel out of
Sandspit and the first target appeared – little blue penguin. We got great views of a number of them
rafting on the water, sitting quite high in the water, preening and lolling
about. We then saw some feeding, with
white-fronted terns feeding over them, and even several Arctic skuas (Parasitic
jaegers) on the chase, harassing the terns to steal their food. Fluttering shearwaters were around in
reasonable numbers as well, dotted here and there in small rafts and we got
nice opportunities to see them taking off and flying past.
We carried on out into the open water and
to the eastern side of Little Barrier Island, encountering our first Buller’s
and flesh-footed shearwaters, Cook’s petrels, and white-faced
storm-petrels. But we kept moving,
wanting to get to our first chumming location instead of stopping and
starting. A few diving gannets and fish
boiling on the surface did bring a temporary stall in our progress, but we
carried on shortly after.
Reaching our first chumming location, we
put out the burley and within a few minutes had white-faced storm-petrels,
Cook’s petrels, and Buller’s and flesh-footed shearwaters in feeding on the
slick. Brett was doing a great job of
chumming, and before long we had a good assemblage of birds. And it wasn’t long before the first New
Zealand storm-petrel appeared! Whoops of
joy went up – always a bird that people want to see, and it never fails to
bring out some whoops when it does! With
light breezes and the current holding us in just the right way, we had stunning
views of all the birds, with particularly close and good views of both of the
storm-petrels, both species down to less than 2m from the stern of the
boat! All the other species gave great
views as well and the cameras were certainly clicking!
We had several, at least three, NZ
storm-petrels around at one point, so excellent views, and we then decided to
head on further to see what we could find, plus some time steaming to delete
and clear some space on the memory cards!
As we headed out the sea was almost glassy calm, with just a slight
breeze and almost no swell, so stunning views of Little Barrier and the
Mokohinau Islands.
On the way to the Mokohinau Islands Brett
spotted a Manta ray feeding right on the surface, an animal probaby at leat 3m
across. Then we arrived at Maori Rocks
where there is a pretty decent gannet colony, but we also found at least 80+
grey ternlet, a species that roosts here from late November through to March-April. We had great views of these really pretty
little noddies, with excellent flight views as well, and then decided to head
on out further towards deeper water. On
the way we spotted another manta ray, and we pulled up at about 180m. Brett started chumming again, but with only a
light breeze there were not a lot of birds around to start with. However, things picked up, and before long we
had a good assemblage of birds, and then several NZ storm-petrels arrived. Again we had them litterally arms length from
the boat, and again the shutters on the cameras were almost smoking! It was really special to have them so
close! Several grey-faced petrels also
made an appearance, but there was nothing else new. After several hours of surreal seabirding, we
had to say good bye to our little flock of storm-petrels and started to head
back in.
On the way in we had several half playful
common dolphins that came in rather half-heartedly and bow-rode a little, but
absolutely stunning sea conditions and a beautiful evening as we headed back
past the Mokohinau Islands and Little Barrier and back up the Kawau
Channel. Coming alongside the wharf took
a little longer than usual (with a trainee skipper!!), but we then headed off
to another awesome dinner before a well earned sleep!
Day
total – Seen = 38; new for the trip = 13; total for
the trip to date = 78
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Little blue penguin preening on the surface |
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Fluttering shearwater about to take off |
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The chase - Arctic skua chasing a white-fronted tern |
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Cook's petrel up close |
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White-faced storm-petrel bouncing off the water |
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White-faced storm-petrel dipping under to get food from below the surface |
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Beautiful Buller's shearwater making a pass |
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White-faced storm-petrels dancing on the water |
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New Zealand storm-petrel coming in for a look |
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New Zealand storm-petrel feeding on the surface |
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More dancing |
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New Zealand storm-petrel about to dip down |
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New Zealand storm-petrel in flight |
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Grey tern let roosting on Maori rocks |
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Grey tern let in flight |
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Grey tern let coming in to land |
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Buller's shearwater again |
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Cook's petrel in close to the back of the boat about to dip down to the slick |