Well this morning dawned better than we
have seen in a while. Cool and crisp,
but with a promise of blue skies to come.
We headed up towards the Franz Josef Glacier and walked up to the
viewpoint. On the way we spotted a few
orchids – both greenhood and spider – and enjoyed the views from the
lookout. They will soon have to change
the name to Franz Josef Valley lookout, as the glacier has receded
spectacularly in the last ten years, to the point where there is just a corner
of it left visible. A pretty telling
indicator of climate change.
We spotted a few birds along the way, with
lots of tomtits heard singing away, and a kea made a quick flight overhead
calling as it went. We then headed off
to the south, winding our way through some spectacular scenery. We headed to a lake site, where we grabbed a
coffee and enjoyed the views, and some caught a falcon flying across a field
and into the forest…others were grabbing a coffee at the time (hmmm, even the
leader!) and so missed it. We stuck
around for a bit, as a small rain shower came over, but no sign of the bird
again. So we carried on our way,
grabbing lunch shortly after.
We scanned as we drove, passing through
really prime falcon habitat. It was
getting to the point that we really needed to see a falcon! We made a lunch stop, and bingo, we had just
finished lunch and were about to start a walk to a beach, when a bird called
and flew over, circling round and giving us great views. From appearances it looked like a female, and
we all had great views before she headed off out of sight.
We did our walk through beautiful forest,
mosses, lichens and liverworts all over the place, and lots of tomtits and
bellbirds. As we arrived on the beach a
pair of variable oystercatchers moved off, and we stood and watched the surf,
hoping for a little figure to appear.
And it did! At the end of the
beach we had several penguins come out of the water over the time we watched. It was fun to watch them as they struggled in
through the surf, almost made it to the beach, only to be sucked out by a
receding wave, then retry their beaching attempt. We had pretty good views of the birds, both
with bins and scopes, and then decided to leave them to it and head back to the
van. Still a ways to go.
We encountered a very friendly pigeon along
the way, and then just as we came into the carpark the female falcon called
loudly overhead again and then landed and we got her in the scope. Excellent!
So back in the van and then off through beautiful scenery, passing
briefly through Haast, and then on up towards Haast Pass. We wound our way through the valleys and
arriving at a location in the forest we jumped out of the van. We were just about to head off when Brent
heard the staccato call of yellowhead, and not 50m from the van we found a
small group of yellowhead feeding in the trees above. We had excellent views of these stunning
birds, with yellow heads that almost glow.
They fed and clung to the trunks of the mossy beech trees, kicking with
their big powerful legs, and sending moss and debris raining down from the
canopy. We spent some time watching them
before they moved off a little and we did a short walk, seeing brown creeper
and several rifleman.
Back at the van we loaded up again for our
final drive through to Wanaka. More
beautiful scenery with a quick photo stop, before we passed into the dry
country in the rain shadow that surrounds Wanaka. It was a lot warmer in Wanaka and we checked
in to the accommodation, then headed for dinner. Another great meal, checklist, and then
bed…an early start in the morning!
Day
total – Seen = 44; new for the trip = 3; total for
the trip to date = 151
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