So with overnight bags packed, we quickly
grabbed some lunch, had a quick drive around the area as a last ditch effort to
see a Kookaburra, which we did not find, before heading off through to Gulf
Harbour to meet the ferry for Tiritiri Matangi Island. We arrived with plenty of time, checked in
and then scanned the neighbouring breakwaters for reef egret before the boat
arrived.
On the way across we had little blue
penguin, Buller’s and fluttering shearwater, and several Arctic and a single
Pomarine skua! A nice addition to the
list! On arrival at Tiri we were met by
the rangers and then headed off up towards the bunkhouse.
As we headed up we quickly had great views
of North Island robin, bellbird and tui, red-crowned parakeet, and had heard
kokako, all within a few minutes.
Shortly thereafter we got great views of saddleback and stitchbird, and
several pigeon were also posing for photographs. A little further on we got some brief but
good views of kokako as they jumped from tree to tree, and their song was as
always a very evocative sound.
We arrived up to the bunkhouse, settled in,
had lunch and then a little rest during the heat of the day, before heading out
with cameras and binoculars in hand. We
managed to track down a pair of takahe that had a relatively well grown chick
and had really great close views of the almost prehistoric birds as they fed in
the grasslands. We then headed off down
the island, seeing more saddleback, robin, stitchbirds, and pigeon, and then
managed to find a tuatara – a large adult several feet long – basking in the
dappled light of the forest floor.
Excellent! Carrying on we then
had stunning views of several spotless crakes running around and feeding an
chasing each other at one of the ponds, and some spectacular photos were
captured as well.
After a fantastic BBQ dinner of steak, NZ
lamb chops and salad and potatoes, washed down with some great NZ wines, we
then headed out to look for kiwi. A
brief but good view of one dashing across a track was all we managed in several
hours of searching, but we did also get several little blue penguins, and
stonking views of a morepork, resulting in full frame photos! Some happy chappies and another excellent
day!
Day
total – Seen = 48 + 1 heard (fernbird); new for the
trip = 13; total for the trip to date = 91
|
Tuatara outside its burrow during the day |
|
Saddleback peering down curiously |
|
Whitehead, plenty of them around at the moment |
|
Red-crowned parakeet perched in Coprosma |
|
North Island robin coming in for a closer look |
|
Pukeko youngster with the wind ruffling its feathers |
|
Having a scratch |
|
Youngster again |
|
Bellbird male about to preen |
|
Young male stitchbird |
|
Saddleback collecting food for a young one |
|
Relaxing and looking at Takahe |
|
Juvenile takahe coming in for a look |
|
Looking very prehistoric |
|
Adult takahe coming in for a look |
|
Again looking very prehistoric |
|
Pigeon taking a stretch |
|
Saddleback looking alert |
No comments:
Post a Comment