Birding Down Under part 3: Enderby (08 December 2023)

Friday 08 December. We continued heading south through the night, were up seawatching soon after dawn and anchored off the Auckland Islands at 07:00. An early breakfast soon followed, in preparation for our first landing on a Subantarctic Island. Along with 60 or more others we'd chosen to opt for the all day walk around Enderby (one of the smaller Auckland Islands) and so would be amongst the first to be landed there. We felt the circular walk offered us the best chance of seeing Subantarctic Snipe and a good selection of other species. It was to be a wet landing, as all landings during the cruise would be. This involved the front of the zodiac being run up onto the beach and one shuffling to the front and alighting into shallow water. We had been issued with muck boots to keep our feet dry and needed them when transferring into and out of zodiacs from the ship too. Sensibly lifejackets where compulsory in zodiacs although I'd struggled to put mine on over binoculars the previous day. With the Muck Rooms where boots and lifejackets were stored was on Deck 3 near our cabin it seemed sensible to grab ours and change into them in our cabin. I took my binoculars off to make it easier to put on the lifejacket but when we landed on Enderby I realised I'd not put them back on. Bins and spare in our cabin - how stupid. Hopefully the birds would be confiding and I'd be able to see them through my camera lens. Fortunately this worked well in the open habitat with most birds although when seeing something I kept reaching for binoculars which weren't there. The circular walk was longer than expected, not helped by being quite rough in places, but it was definitely be best choice and we saw pretty much everything we'd hoped for. Highlights were my first Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses which were superb, brilliant views of a Subantarctic Snipe with another seen in flight, ridiculous views of a pair of Double-banded Plovers (an endemic race) and the endemic Auckland Teal and displaying Southern Royal Albatrosses. Once back on board we continued seawatching as we headed south seeing more Light-mantled Sooties and my first White-headed Petrels which I really took to. I was not so keen on Soft-plumaged Petrels, missing several despite skipping dinner, but tomorrow should offer more chances as we'd be at sea all day. Birds I saw during the day were: Auckland Teal 5, Double-banded Plover 8, Subantarctic Snipe 2, Red-billed Gull 10, Kelp Gull 10, Brown Skua 25, Yellow-eyed Penguin 15, Black-bellied Storm Petrel 30, Southern Royal Albatross 25, Light-mantled Sooty Albatross 11, Shy Albatross 15, Northern Giant Petrel 40, Cape Petrel 55, Fairy Prion 200+, Fulmar Prion 2, White-headed Petrel 12, White-chinned Petrel 20, Sooty Shearwater 5, Cormorant 2, Auckland Shag 50, New Zealand Falcon 1, Red-crowned Parakeet 6, Tui 2, New Zealand Bellbird 2, Tomtit 12, New Zealand Pipit 30, Lesser Redpoll 2.

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross at Enderby

Yellow-eyed Penguin, part of the Enderby welcoming committee

as was this New Zealand Fur Seal provided it wasn't passed too closely

this pair of flightless Auckland Teal were more retiring

Northern Giant Petrels struggling to take off

Auckland Shag flypast

Heritage Adventurer still unloading

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross offshore

New Zealand Pipit on Enderby

the Auckland Island race

very tame

male Auckland Teal

female Auckland Teal

Red-billed Gull on Enderby

Yellow-eyed Penguins on Enderby

Double-banded Plover on Enderby

New Zealand Falcon on Enderby

New Zealand Fur Seals

Auckland Island race of Tom Tit on Enderby

Subantarctic Snipe hiding out on Enderby

Brown Skua on Enderby, presumably on nest

one of the more vegetated parts of Enderby Island

Yellow-eyed Penguin in the rain

Yellow-eyed Penguin headed for the coast

not sure this cliff face is the best way to go

another pair of Double-banded Plovers from the boardwalk

Southern Royal Albatrosses from the boardwalk on Enderby

back at the beach where we started

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross at sea in increasingly poor light

with Fairy Prion

Northern Giant Petrel at sea

White-headed Petrel at sea