13 August 1996:
We were up at dawn and drove into Wellington to catch the 08:00
ferry to Picton. The crossing, on the
Arahura, produced our first Cape Petrels, Fairy Prions and a Royal Albatross
with Common Diving Petrels and Hutton’s Shearwaters very common in Queen
Charlotte Sound. A brief stop at Lake
Elterwater produced nothing of note and we soon continued on to Kaikoura where
the rest of the day was spent. The terns
around the Fur Seal colony were good and a few seabirds were seen rather
distantly. That evening Nick contacted
the skipper of the M.V. Virgo who was happy for us to join him when he checked
his nets the following morning, provided it wasn’t too rough. With a feeling of anticipation, and some
anxiety given the rising wind, we slept in the car by the Fur Seal colony. 33 species were recorded, the 100 Cape
Petrels being the highlight of the day.
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inter-island ferry crossing Cook Strait, snowy mountains of South Island in the distance |
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Queen Charlotte Sound |
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the road south to Kaikoura was spectacular |
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it would be an impressive train journey too |
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looking northwest from the headland at Kaikoura |
14 August 1996:
We met Gary and his crewman on the quay before dawn and were soon
off, squeezed into the deckhouse. It was
cold and there was a heavy swell, while reports on the radio suggested worse
weather further south. Gary did not
appear to be at all concerned, exhibiting a calmness I did not feel! After a couple of hours of bouncing around
seeing very little we arrived at his first net.
Up until this point in my life seabirds had been rather mythical birds
one glimpsed from headlands if lucky and couldn’t really identify without a bit
of imagination while pelagic trips involved hours of boredom and a few
Bonxies. The next 3 hours challenged
this conception completely, not that my identification of seabirds has improved
very much and I still prefer to be on dry land!
As the nets were drawn in and fish gutted, a mass of birds surrounded
the boat and descended on the innards as they were thrown overboard. We estimated at least 2000 Cape Petrels, 20
Royal, 3 Wandering, 30 Shy, 2 Buller’s and 15 Black-browed Albatrosses, 20 Grey
Petrels and 15 Westland Black Petrels were round the boat, some almost close
enough to touch (and readily photographed with a standard lens). It was a magical experience and we were sorry
when the final net had been reset and we turned for home, although the return
journey was just as memorable with a small pod of dolphins riding the bow wave
inches from where we were sitting for 20 minutes. Two hours seawatching from above the Fur Seal
colony was a distinct anticlimax after the Virgo. We departed Kaikoura towards Arthur’s Pass,
getting as far as Waipara before dark.
We drove on to Arthur’s Pass camping by the Hawden Shelter. A very memorable day despite only 29 species
being recorded. Wandering Albatross was
the bird of the day.
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seabirds from the MV Virgo off Kaikoura. Probably Wandering, Black-browed and Royal Albatrosses, Southern Giant and Cape Petrels and Kelp Gulls |
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gulls, Cape Petrels and albatrosses |
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Wandering and Black-browed Albatrosses with Cape Petrela |
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Black-browed and Wandering Albatrosses and Cape Petrels |
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Black-browed, Shy and Royal Albatrosses with Cape Petrels |
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Black-browed, Shy, Royal and Wandering Albatrosses with Cape Petrels (this is the above image digitised from the negative rather than a print, interesting how different the colours are) |
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Wandering and Royal Albatrosses with Southern Giant and Cape Petrels |
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Black-browed and Wandering Albatrosses and Cape Petrels |
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Dusky Dolphins riding the bow-wave |
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returning to Kaikoura, seabirds would never be the same again |
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MV Virgo back in Kaikoura. Thanks guys. |
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Fur Seal |
15 August 1996:
A couple of hours wandering up the Hawden Valley at first light
produced very little so after packing up the tent we drove up to Arthur’s
Pass. By this time it had started to
snow and a brief look at a river were Blue Duck had been seen the previous
November was soon abandoned. We saw 4
Keas but little else and decided to go on to Punakaiki. As we descended the snow became rain and the
weather started to brighten up a bit. We
went first to Bullock Creek to see where to look for Great Spotted Kiwis that
evening but after 2-3 kms the road into the site was seriously flooded and we
could go no further. A walk back along
the road looking for Weka was looking to be unsuccessful, although it did
produce our first New Zealand Brown Creeper, until we returned to the car to
find a Weka crouched under it! This bird
and another then gave amazing views.
After a brief look at the pancake rocks at Punakaiki, where Westland
Black Petrels were obvious gathering offshore, we waited by the road south of
Punakaiki River to witness the petrels returning to their burrows. We saw at least 1000, though observations
were interrupted on occasion when we retreated into the car to avoid
particularly heavy showers. Birds still
seemed to be coming in after dark, but with the rain becoming more persistent we
decided to call it a day. Trying for the
kiwis was impractical given the rain and flooded road so we drove south,
sleeping in the car just south of Ross.
Only 27 species were recorded, possibly due to poor weather, but 3 were
new. Weka was clearly the highlight.
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Hawden Valley campsite at dawn. it was cold! |
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Arthur's Pass |
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Weka at Punakaiki |
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impressive sized feet |
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Punakaiki |
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me at the pancake rocks |
16 August 1996:
We were up at dawn and drove down the Westland Coast with stops at
the southern end of Okarito Lagoon, Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers and Lake
Paringa. All were pleasant, without
producing many birds. The last two hours
of the day were spent at Munroe’s Beach seeing three Fiordland Crested
Penguins which appeared in the breakers
and quickly walked up the beach into the rocks at the foot of the cliffs - superb. Despite it being mid-winter
sandflies were a problem at Munroe’s Beach, particularly as we’d not thought to
take any repellent with us. We continued
past the town of Haast and started to climb towards Haast Pass, stopping in a
layby near Okuru Forest to sleep in the car.
36 species recorded of which only one was new and few of the others were
particularly significant.
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Westland |
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Frans Joseph Glacier |
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Fox Glacier |
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Munroe's Beach |
17 August 1996:
After a cold night we quickly drove up to Haast Pass and spent a
very enjoyable two hours on the bridle track walking on an amazing carpet of
moss through absolutely stunning woodland.
Best birds were an amazing 27 Riflemen and 6 Yellowheads as well as 2
Kakas, 3 Yellow-crowned Parakeets, 10 Tomtits and 2 New Zealand Brown
Creepers. We then drove fairly steadily
to Wanaka (for supplies) and over the spectacular Lindis Pass to Twizel. Taking a road east just before Twizel led us
past the Power Stations and on to the northwest end of Lake Benmore adjacent to
the braided river complex. We watched
until dark seeing 5 Black Stilts, 1 Pied Stilt and 1 hybrid as well as 20
Double-banded Plovers. Birds were
generally rather distant but two Black Stilts did give close views enabling us
to be confident of their purity. We were
expecting Black Stilts to be much harder to pick out but were pleased this was
not the case. Perhaps this is a good
time of year to find them, with most Pied Stilts and hybrids not having
returned from their northern migration?
34 species were recorded of which 3 were new. This was one of the best days of the trip,
the 27 Riflemen the inevitable highlight.
After much debate we decided not to stay at Lake Benmore that night and
drove on south towards Te Anau, putting up the tent in a layby near The Key at
2 am.
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Westland |
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Haast Pass |
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Lake Wanaka |
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Lake Hawea |
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Lindis Pass |
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Lake Benmore |
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dusk at Lake Benmore |
18 August 1996:
A cold night and up at dawn, we drove through Te Anau and out
towards Milford Sound, stopping at the Mirror Lakes (rather unimpressive) and
Homer Tunnel (rather scary). Few birds
were seen although Keas gave good views, especially at the Homer Tunnel were
one landed on the car as soon as we stopped and needed to be discouraged from
shredding the window seals. Homer Tunnel
was covered in snow (up to a foot in places) and any idea of seeing Rock Wren
hopping round the boulders nearby were immediately dashed. There are very few winter sightings with
suggestions they feed around boulders below the snow perhaps no more fanciful
than them hibernating. A great pity as
they look a stunning bird. We continued
down to Milford Sound where a Great White Egret was present and after deciding
not to go on a very touristy and rather expensive boat trip on the sound we
returned through the Homer Tunnel to Lake Gunn.
Here we had a pleasant walk through excellent woodland before putting up
the tent. Few birds were evident at Lake
Gunn, possibly due to the cold, although 3 Riflemen were seen. Just 21 species recorded, the lowest daily
total of the trip and also the first day with no new birds, though Rifleman was
again a worthy highlight.
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Eglington Valley |
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Mirror Lakes |
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upper Eglington Valley |
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Kea in a parking area, waiting for unwary motorists! |
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road to Homer Tunnel |
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near Homer Tunnel |
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colour-ringed Kea "K" at the Homer Tunnel with its eye on our windscreen wipers and window seals. It had to be chased away repeatedly and on one occasion it under-estimated the
slipperiness of the bonnet and skidded in a rather undignified manner off onto
the snow!
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Milford Sound |
19 August 1996:
We returned to Milford Sound for a final look around but soon left after stops at Homer
Tunnel (nothing), Lake Gunn (7 Riflemen) and Knobb’s Flat (4 Riflemen). The woodland was superb but appeared to have
very low bird densities. We left this
area and bought some supplies in Te Anau before driving to Invercargill. I was lucky enough to see a New Zealand
Falcon as it shot across in front of the car between The Key and Mossburn. Unfortunately it could not be relocated and
as the light soon faded we continued on our way. After a visit to another excellent Fish &
Chip Shop in Invercargill we ended up sleeping in the car at Bluff. While enquiring in the local pub about boats
to Stewart Island Nick was told if we’d been a couple of days earlier we could
have got a lift on a week trip in someone’s brother’s boat to a couple of the
Sub-antarctic Islands. Even I, not
liking boats, would have jumped at the chance.
It was noticeably warmer but rather breezy. 25 species were recorded including, sadly, what
turned out to be the last Riflemen of the trip.
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Milford Sound |
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near Homer Tunnel |
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Eglington Valley |
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moss covered forest in the Eglington Valley |
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