Birding Down Under part 12: Disembarkation and Auckland (21-25 December 2023)

Thursday 21 December. We arrived at Bluff overnight, saw 4 Fouveaux Shags in the harbour and disembarked soon after breakfast. I’d enjoyed the cruise much more than I was expecting, thanks in great part to Nick, the 3 Pauls and the excellent Heritage guides - Matt, Dan and Jonathan in particular. We were bussed to Invercargil airport where after a lengthy wait boarded our flight to Auckland. There Nick and I said goodbye to Paul who was returning home for Christmas. We were visiting my sister Ruth and my daughter Nessa was transiting through Auckland on her way from UK to Wellington. By amazing coincidence, as we entered the domestic terminal I saw her waiting to board the plane we’d arrived on from Invercargil and we had a quick chat. We let Ruth know we’d arrived and she soon appeared in the drop-off area outside the terminal. She drove us to Titirangi where she left us with the car for Nick to drive to Tuwharanui, a protected peninsular an hour of so north of Auckland. She’d booked an Airbnb for us, as close to the reserve as possible. We quickly settled in and then headed to Tawharanui an hour before dusk. An automatic gate opened for us to drive into the reserve, we parked near the beach and followed a dirt track into the forest to the start of the Ecology Trail. On the way we saw 3 Brown Teal, 3 New Zealand Pigeons, 100+ Pukakos, New Zealand Dotterel, 4 Kakas, 3 Tui, New Zealand Fantail and North Island Robin. At about 21:10, having been quietly walking up the Ecology Trail for 10-15 minutes we heard some rustling and snorting in the vegetation a little way below us. We froze, maybe 5m apart, as it came closer and much to our delight a North Island Brown Kiwi appeared on the path between us. It stopped for a while, seemingly unconcerned by our red torches, before slowly walking up the hill. Superb. We walked the Ecology Trail twice over the next three hours hoping for more views of it or another but the closest we came was me seeing one’s back disappearing behind a bush before vanishing further up the hillside. Disappointing although we did see a fairly vocal Ruru (Morepork).

unloading the Heritage Adventurer

Friday 22 December. We checked out of our Airbnb and returned to Tawharanui where we birded from 08:00-13:00 before returning to Titirangi and Ruth’s. At Tawharanui I saw 2 Paradise Shelduck, 4 Brown Teal, 6 New Zealand Pigeons, 30 Pukakos, 10 Variable Oystercatchers, Pied Stilt, 10 Masked Lapwings, 5 New Zealand Dotterel, 40 Red-billed Gulls, 2 Caspian and 8 White-fronted Terns, 2 Sacred Kingfishers, 20 Tui, 3 Grey Gerygones, 2 Australian Magpies, 10 New Zealand Fantails, 3 North Island Robins, 10 Welcome Swallows, Silvereye and a few introduced European passerines. On the drive back to Auckland we saw 4 California Quail and 2 Swamp Harriers and another Tui in Ruth’s Titirangi garden.

New Zealand Pigeon at Tawharanui

North Island Robin at Tawharanui

Whitehead at Tawharanui

Tui at Tawharanui

Tawharanui

White-fronted Terns at Tawharanui

Variable Oystercatcher at Tawharanui

Red-billed Gull at Tawharanui

Brown Teal at Tawharanui

New Zealand Plovers at Tawharanui

EDB

looking much brighter here so perhaps EDB is the male

and EDA

Masked Plover at Tawharanui

Caspian Terns on the lagoon at Tawharanui

Australian Gannet over the lagoon

California Quail by the road north of Auckland

Saturday 23 December. Ruth had booked herself, daughter Izzy, Nick and me onto Tiri Tiri Matangi for a night. We were going from Gulf Harbour, further out but leaving a car wasn’t an issue. She’d also brought food and sleeping bags. The ferry crossing was uneventful and we soon landed. Nick and I had visited in 1996 and it was nice to be back, although my recollections of the island were rather hazy. We left our bags in the bunkhouse birded for most of the day wandering the trails fairly aimlessly. This we repeated at night looking for Little Spotted Kiwi as none of the resident volunteers were able to suggest where best to look. They could be anywhere seemed the standard response. On Tiri I saw 2 Brown Teal, a juvenile Brown Quail, 4 New Zealand Pigeons, 10 Pukako, 3 South Island Takahe (a pair with a fully grown juvenile), 4 Variable Oystercatchers, 3 Red-billed Gulls, a moribund Little Penguin, 7 Pied Cormorants, White-faced Heron, Swamp Harrier, Ruru in daylight, Eastern Rosella (not all introductions were European), 6 Red-crowned Parakeets, 30 Tui, 10 New Zealand Bellbirds, Grey Gerygone, 2 North Island Kokakos, 14 North Island Saddlebacks, 4 male Stitchbirds, 30 Whiteheads, Australian Magpie, 10 North Island Robins, Skylark, 5 Welcome Swallows, 3 Common Mynas, Song Thrush and 10 Blackbirds. We heard a distant Lesser Spotted Kiwi but it stopped calling before we could pin down its location.

Saddleback on Tiri Tiri Matangi

Ruru on Tiri

Tui on Tiri

New Zealand Pigeon on Tiri

Pukako on Tiri

Takahe family on Tiri, I'm no longer in any doubt that birds evolved from dinosaurs

moribund Little Blue Penguin on the beach Tiri

Tiri boardwalk

Kokako on Tiri, released here since our previous visit and seemingly thriving

Tuatara, nice but not what we were hoping to see rustling leaf litter after dark

Sunday 24 December. The day started as the last one finished, wandering around all night looking unsuccessfully for Little Spotted Kiwi although again we briefly heard one in the distance. Nick had more sense than me and gave up at 04:00. I dozed a bit when it was light and continued wandering around until it was time to catch the boat back. Ruth and Izzy disembarked at Gulf Harbour while Nick and I continued across the Hauraki Gulf to Auckland Marina, Ruth and Izzy driving around to meet us there. Titi Tiri Matangi produced much the same as the previous day, several attempts to find Uniform Crake again proving unsuccessful. Tiri Tiri Matangi is a brilliant place and under normal circumstances we would have really enjoyed our visit but on this occasion we were desperately disappointed. In 1996 we had spent two nights on Tiri. There were just eleven kiwis on the island then. We heard a kiwi quite close during our first evening but it slipped away unseen while continual rain washed out our second evening. This time we only had one night, Ruth had tried to book two but the bunkhouse was full of volunteers and we’d been lucky to get in at all. Even so the kiwi population had risen to over 70 and we both had thermals and red torches but despite this we still failed. On Tiri I saw 4 Brown Teal, 5 Brown Quail, 2 New Zealand Pigeons, 6 Pukako, 3 South Island Takahe (the pair with a fully grown juvenile), 2 Variable Oystercatchers, 10 Red-billed and 2 Kelp Gulls, 6 Pied Cormorants, 2 adult and a juvenile Ruru, 3 Eastern Rosellas, 5 Red-crowned Parakeets, Rifleman, 20 Tui, 12 New Zealand Bellbirds, 3 Grey Gerygone, North Island Kokako, 15 North Island Saddlebacks, 7 male and a female Stitchbird, 25 Whiteheads, 2 Australian Magpie, 2 New Zealand Fantails, 10 North Island Robins, Skylark, 10 Welcome Swallows, 4 Common Mynas, 8 Blackbirds and 4 House Sparrows. The crossing back to Auckland Marina was excellent with 10 White-fronted Terns, 30 Cook’s and 3 Black Petrels, 4 Buller’s and 150 Fluttering Shearwaters and 3 Australian Gannets. It didn't quite make up for the disappointment of not seeing kiwi on Tiri but at least we left on a bit of a high. Back in Titirangi Ruth’s family came round for an excellent Christmas eve meal.

Red-crowned Parakeet on Tiri

New Zealand Pigeon on Tiri

the day's visitors arriving

Tiri Tiri Matangi

Pukako on Tiri

Brown Teal on Tiri

Takahe parent on Tiri 

Ruru on Tiri

approaching Gulf Harbour

Monday 25 December. Christmas morning with Ruth and Izzy, New Zealand Pigeon and Tui seen from their house then we were dropped at Auckland Airport for our flight home, via Singapore.

Auckland Airport

Tuesday 26 December. Nick and I arrived at Heathrow at 06:00 and I was home for a late lunch.

[blogged 25 April 2024]