Iain Johnson wrote:

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I've also found the NZ equivalent of the manchester forums which makes interesting reading, especially when people find red necked stint and its not a mega

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Hi Iain,

Got a 4 week trip to see relatives in Christchurch in August, probably get a long answer but I got a while to read it!

I've been twice before but never since I got hooked on this hobby and never with bins/camera!

Also, have you got a link to the website you speak of?

Thanks in advance

Paul

Hi Iain. Many thanks for sharing your exotic sightings with us. I've really enjoyed reading along whilst you explored this part of the world.
What a unique place NZ is with that querky polarised mix of alien and homely species!
Thanks. Henry.

-- Edited by Henry Cook on Thursday 20th of May 2010 05:35:06 AM

I spent three days on Tiri Tiri Matangi, the nature reserve off Auckland recently with two birds on the wish list: Little Spotted Kiwi and Kokako.

As per usual, i took the boat from downtown Auckland to the reserve and managed to see Bullers and Fluttering Shearwaters on route. Once on the island, once the ranger had done his introductory talk, I wandered up to the bunk house watching robins and saddlebacks when the sound of organ pipes caught my attention; it could only be one bird, the Kokako. I quickly located the bird feeding high in the canopy at the junction of the main track and the wattle track (and would see a pair here later in the day).

I was lucky enough to see at least seven Kokako during my stay, with two birds on the ridge track and three birds feeding on the lawn of the volunteers bunkhouse (where I was staying and close to the visitor centre).

The island, as previously reported holds good populations of saddleback, NI robin, bellbird, whitehead, red-crowned parakeet. Rifleman have been translocated onto the island but are hard to find and I didn't see any during my stay.

I used the three day visit to walk some of the tracks i haven't had chance to previously, visiting a maori Pa site and some of the more remote beaches, which are beautiful. There are also some very good spots for diving/ snorkling on the island.

The first night, I helped four ladies, who take an annual walking trip around NZ every year see a LSK at very close range by the lighthouse. We had a couple of false alarms with ducks walking past before we found the real thing running across a large field. After a break I then helped two girls find another kiwi on the wattle track. This bird was more confiding, feeding approximately ten metres away in the bush and completely unfazed by the soft red torchlight we used.

The second night was the best though. Whilst walking down the ridge track, I heard a rustle immediately adjacent to the path and after a few minutes wait, a stunning LSK popped into view about two metres away happily feeding away. I then bumped into another couple (the girl was from manchester and her dad is a manc birder now living in norfolk) who were watching a tuatara (ancient reptile).

Some of you may have noticed that I have snuck back into the county after an absence of almost two years, so this will be the last update from New Zealand I'm afraid. I hope that you have enjoyed reading the posting from the other side of the world about the birds I have seen. Should anyone be planning a trip, then please feel free to get in touch.

I can't believe I failed to mention that there were not one, but two ex-pat manc birders on the trip, the other being Nigel Milius, who's birthday, April 1st, is the day after mine and was also the first day of the trip!!

The boat's skipper, Tank, is a semi manc as is dad was from Rochdale.

So the manc contingent kept up the proud name of manchester by catching the biggest fish of the trip!!!!!!!!!!

Just back from the annual Three Kings pelagic - a four day boat trip north of the NZ mainland to a small group of islands and covering an area of deep and hopefully warm water where tropical sea birds may be lurking!

The main bird highlights included:
Wilson's, White-faced and New Zealand Storm Petrels
Bullers, Wandering, Campbell's and White-capped Albatross
Black, Cook's. Black-winged, White-necked (naped) and Kermadec Petrels
Little, Sooty, Fluttering, Bullers and Flesh-footed Shearwaters
Gannet
Brown and a superb summer plumage Pomerine Skua complete with 'spoons'
Common Dolphins bow riding and two Bryde's Whales right off the boat plus several sunfish

The Three Kings themselves have some endemic sub-species including bellbird plus we also heard a Morepork!

So no mega tropical birds but the black-winged petrel were in good numbers with three white-necked and two kemadec's, all of which gave great views including one kermadec which couldn't stop showing off!!!

A trip to Miranda on Sunday produced the usual waders of Barwit and Knot, both of which are rapidly gaining summer plumage and more importantly weight in readiness for their long migration north, and looked absolutely stunning.

There were around 200 wrybill with a few turnstone and banded dotterel mixed in plus VOCs, SIPOs and Pied Stilt. Two sharp tailed sandpipers also put in an appearance as did two spoonbill and a little tern.

So, after a restless night in my mazda three (I've upgraded since the heady days of the mid 90's Mike!) I found a cafe, had some breakfast, and started the long drive south to Okarito. After about three hours solid driving I arrived at Franz Josef and found a backpackers (and a proper bed) for the night.

However, still no word on the Okarito Kiwi tour. So after another two hour diversion further south to check out a report of intermediate egret (no joy) and subsequent return journey, I arrived back in Franz Josef hopefully of some kiwi news.

On my way south, I'd taken the opportunity to gather a few flyers of walks in the Okarito area just in case. However, there was no need, as Ian Cooper, who runs the tours, called back to say that he wanted me at his place by 6.40 pm. Time for some tea.......

I'd visited Okarito breifly once before, on a tour of NZ's SI back in 2005. Jo and I had stopped off at the lagoon to look for Great Egret (eastern form of Great White Egret, and now a separate species) but hadn't gone into the village. The village consists of about 30 houses, a campsite and thats about it. No shops, no pub and one of the tour operators sells coffee during the day. There was an egret though, so that was OK!

Its inhabitants and visitors are tormented by both sand flies and mossies - be warned. The villagers are, reportedly, tormented by its most famous resident, the 1985 Booker Prize winner Keri Hulme (The Bone People)!

So after a quick trip to the beach (beautiful in the sun) I went round to Ian's house for the tour. In total there were nine poepl, inc Ian, who gave the group the lowdown on what to expect (nothing) and what his expectations were of the group! Ian runs a very efficient tour, designed to minimise the impact on the kiwis but to maximise the chances of seeing the birds.

After handing out mossie net, gloves, torches (was given a red torch and cb radio and effectively made second in commmand) and high vis vests (there are hunters in the bush). Ian is extremely enthusiastic and passionate about the the kiwis, having run the tours for 11 years; originally an insurance underwriter from stevenage with no birding background, he fell in love with Okarito on a dark, storm laden day and never left!

So after giving the group the lowdown and explaining how and when to move, he sat down! Ian has a unique trick to finding the kiwis: telemetry. Several of the birds are radio tagged, plus Ian knows the territories like the back of his hand and likely movements. So, after locating a bird close to the path, he positioned himself close to the bird, with myself about 3 m behind, with the rest of group further back. Communication was torch light only - it was like being in the army!

Eventually movement, but only my hands trying to swat mossies, so on went the hat with the mossie net but still they came..........

A morepork flew overhead.........

tree wekas made their tree weka sound.........

and finally, a kiwi rustled, and another, and soon Ian had the group moving silently and slowly down the path and there we waited whilst two kiwis crashed thru the bush. Eventually, the kiwi's couldn't bear the anticipation any more and one burst out to tick off the latest nine birdwatchers for its list, before deciding it didn't really like the look of any of them and raced across the path and back into the bush. The second kiwi, Fancy, pretty much did the same, altho he did stop to admire the stupid hats and latest fleece jackets most of the group were wearing.

Ian had another kiwi lined up, B&Q (i think, its mate is called MFI, actually its not, its BZ, maybe). Just as he set off down the path, a male called, fancy... or was it? Ian checked his telemetry and no, wait, its BQ. Suddenly we had ring side seats in a kiwi western (sorry, but on the west coast!). BQ and Fancy were having a dual and promptly came hurtling out of the bush and chased each other up and down the path included using the group as a human shield!!!!!!

Eventually, the sheriff turned up and calm was restored and the kiwis went back to feeding.

So, another cracking night of kiwi action, certainly the best I've had. In the process, not only had a manged to see 2 species of kiwi within 24 hours, but I''ve seen four out of five species on the first attempt. Unfortunately, I won't make it five out of five on the first attempt, having already dipped little spotted twice.

I hope, for your sake, it wasn't a mini

Ladies and gentlemen of Manchester, please forgive for not posting the latest news and wanderings of mancunian kiwi!

There have however, been some fantastic birding moments of late. Last weekend I travelled to the South Island in search of kiwis, in particular Great Spotted and Okarito Brown Kiwis. The latter is considered the rarest kiwi in the world with a population of approximately 350 birds. Both are found on the upper west coast of the south island, which is also subject to frequent storms from the Tasman Sea and Antarctic Ocean. I'd planned the trip some weeks before and hoped for good weather......... and wasn't disappointed, four outstanding days with only a ten minute downpour whilst I was stood inside a back packers in Franz Josef.

I'd given myself four nights, flying down on a Thursday, arriving mid afternoon, and leaving first thing Monday morning and straight back to work. What I hasn't really thought about were the distances I was going to have to travel. This was made apparent to me when I contacted Ian Cooper, who runs Okarito Kiwi tours re a tour on the Thursday night, who said that Nelson to Okarito was six to seven hours drive, that I would be extremely unlikely to make it in time and that there were no tours scheduled for the weekend!

So not a good start. Howver, Ian did provide/ confirm the directions I had for GSK. So that became my first stop. These were to be found at Bullock Creek Road in Punakaiki and in true 'student' style, a la my early Norfolk trips, I decided to sleep in the great outdoors, saving myself a huge $28 (or GBP10).

It took about 4 1/2 hours to get there (Okarito was still a further 200 kilometres), arring around 7 pm only to find another car there and then a third car turned up. Fortunately both cars soon departed but it did leave me wondering about being stuck in the great outdoors, by myself, no phone coverage and no-one knowing where I was!!

Anyway, I got ready, prepared my red torch filter and set off for a reccie of the spot plus another territory that Ian had mentioned. Upon arriving at the spot, a SI Robin was bouncing around and came to inspect my shoes! Weka's were also present in the bush. Eventually I settled down and waited, and waited and waited, but considering it was still light, no kiwi action was expected any time some.

So it started to turn dark and a cacophony of noise greeted the forthing night, quite eerie really. The stars also started to appear and weka's and morepork called forth. At about 9.30 pm I spotted a dark shape in the clearing I was sat in and fumbled for the torch and was just in time to see the back end of weka disappear into the bush!

Then a kiwi called and another responded - fantastic. This was followed by rustling/ crashing through the bush. A quick search with the torch didn't reveal anything. This went on for about ten minutes. Then the night got a little unnerving as I heard some gunshot, not too far away. Probably hunters shooting deer or pigs but due to the secluded nature of the SI, there are a lot of illegal activities such as growing dope around. Ten minutes later the sound of a helicopter started to get closer but I couldn't see it in the sky until it switched the spotlight directly on to me!!!

Fortunately it just passed by, content that I wasn't up to anything illegal. The sound of a something crashing through the undergrowth started again and re-directed my attention. Around this time a combination of cold and adrenaline kicked in so that my entire body was shaking in anticipation of seeing GSK and the thought of a warm sleeping bag.

After another 30 minutes of the crashing sound with the occasional call, I was about ready to call it a night and headoff, when a quick search with the torch revealed a GSK stood about 5 metres away, slightly further back than I had anticipated at the base of some trees. Unfortunately it wasn't a prolonged view, but enough to id the bird before is scuttled off deeper into the bush.

As I headed back to the car, a detected some movement ahead of me which stopped every time I stopped! It proved to be a weka.

As far my sleeping arrangements, I ended up on the passenger seat in a car park at the side of the main road - something never change

Visited Karaka today with Peter Langlands, a birder from Christchurch who does a lot of research into Wrybill and Australian Bittern. Peter is assisting with translocations of riflemans from Little Barrier Island to Tiri Tiri Mantangi.

Anyway, all the usual suspects were present, wrybill, bar-wit, knot, turnstone, VOC and SIPO, and curlew sandpiper. The highlights included a powerine skua which flew through, a great knot and seven curlew.

A quick trip to miranda produced three sharp tailed sandpipers.

Spent last weekend checking out various high tide roosts as we had some exceptionally high tides.

Saturday was spent at Big Sand Island on the Kiapara Penisular. The roost has a good tern colony which regularly turns something up but not today!

But there were several thousand knot and godwit, plus turnstone, pacific golden plover, wrybill banded and NZ dotterel and four red necked stints. The highlights were a terek sandpiper, an annual visitor to NZ and Big Sand inparticular but usually no more than 1 or 2 birds, so a great bird to add to the list, and nine whimbrel and based on flight when we could see the rump and mantel eight of the birds appeared to be of the American as these were buff and streaked, as opposed to white, which is characterisitc of Asiatic.

Sunday was spent at Kidds beach on the south manukau, overlooking Auckland Airport. The HT meant that much of the shell banks were covered resulting in the birds competing for roosting space but maybe HT was too high as the birds were also a bit flightly.

Godwits (low numbers), knots and sipos were around as well as wrybill, 6 curlew sand, 100+ turnstone and a wandering tattler, which stood out a mile both in flight and on the ground with its dark/ smokey grey plumage. There was also a great knot but unfortunately I didn't catch up with this.

Miranda (on Monday, due to bank holiday) was largely the same although there were eight sharp tailed sandpipers and a banded rail showed well from the visitor centre. And finally, another whimbrel at Mangere in amongst the godwits.

The last couple of weekends have been pretty productive. Weekend of Jan 23rd involved a visit to the Marlborough Sounds region of the South Island for two boat trips. Hadn't see much of the sounds prior to this trip save for the Inter islander ferry trip.

On the way to Auckland Airport, ticked Grey Plover at mangere sewage works.

Day one was an all day boat trip up Pelorus Sounds to Maud Island for Orange Fronted Parakeet. We finally reached the island at about 1.30pm having left at nine and then it was all eyes on the trees. Eventually a parakeet flew over! Also found a first for the island in the form of a Fernbird!

The trip also produced several King Shags.

Day two was organised in order to see King Shags, but that was all ticked off. This trip went up Queen Charlotte Sound to Motuara Island where you can see Saddleback, Yellow Crowned Parakeet and SI Robin. King Shag were also seen but no dolphins, which are a feature of this trip.

Both islands are DOC reserves; Maud requires a premit and entry is restricted to visitors in just January, whilst Motuara is an open reserve.

OK, so this entry is not strictly New Zealand, although its residents do hold NZ passports! Any guesses??

Its the Cook Islands - a mere four hour flight from Auckland but also reached via LA.

The Cooks are separated into two groups; northern and southern and most people visit two islands in the southern group; the largest island of rarotonga, and the atoll/ lagoon of atutaki.

We visited rarotonga, but took a slightly different direction and headed for Atiu - once home to the hardest warriors of all the pacific islands who weren't averse to a bit of human flesh until the church arrived in about 1823.

So rarotonga, tropical island, with some mountains at the centre (and blood thirst mossies; the only cannibals left ) and a reef on the outside creating a lagoon which is great for snorkelling/ scuba diving (which is amazing btw!).

The majority of days were spent at the rarotonga beach resort in the islands south side and overlooking the lagoon. Regular views of white tern; all white, and appears translucent in the sun, with a black bill and eye, and brown noddies, essentially a large brown tern with a white cap. Indian mynahs are all over the place as well as feral chickens. there were also at least two wandering tattlers feeding up and down the beach. Also found a few pacific golden plover close to the hotel but loads on the airport.

After three days, headed to Atiu, which is a 45 min flight and considerably smaller. However, whilst it is less developed, the plus side means that it is relatively quite and unspoiled owing to the lack of tourist infrastructure - we were two of seven (yes!) tourists on the island at that time.

Stayed at the Atiu Villas, beutiful spot, on the islands plateau. From the villas saw chattering kingfisher, the atiu sub-species of cook islands dove, pacific pigeon, indian mynah, white tern, rimarata/ khuls lorikeet (an introduced endemic) and a frigatebird species. Oh and two long tailed cuckoos early one morning. PGP where flippin everywhere!!

On our first day, Jo and I wandered down to a beach where we were the only people there - amazing. Black noddies flew up and down the beach, with white terns, reef herons (both white and dark phase occur in the cook islands) and just as we were leaving, two great frigatebirds flew 10 m over our heads - wow.

The next day, we went on a cave tour, primarily to see atiu swiflet, which is remarkable as it nevers lands outside, and nests in pitch black caves using echo location to find its nest - unbelievable but utterly amazing.

The following day we went on an eco tour and caught up with all the above species plus a wandering tattler and the rarotongan flycatcher/ monach. Off shore were brown bobbies and a probable red footed booby (need to check id still).

We then returned to rarotonga, and whilst waiting for a taxi at the airport, a red tailed tropicbird flew over my head.

There is also a conservation area on rarotonga called takitumu where rarotonga flyctacher are protected, i.e. rat bait stations. Saw a pair feeding two young chicks plus one juvenile bird which are orange for the first two years and then they moult to grey when they reach adulthood. Also saw LT cuckoo being chased by mynahs, the rarotonga sub species of cook island dove (crap views though), pacific pigeon and rartonga starling - right at the death as we were about to leave the park. Also saw some flying foxes, the only native mammal to the cook islands.

and that was it, not a lot of species, but fantastic quality. Apologies for being so brief, will try to write a proper trip report up soon.

Cheers e

We left Stewart Island and headed for Milford Sound for a bit of sight seeing and the chance to see Rock Wren. The Rock Wren was easy, they breed at the entrance to the Homer Tunnel on the road to Milford, so after two minutes standing around, one hopped along (literally). Also saw several Kea attacking cars and my shoes!

Milford Sound was good, but lacking obvious wildlife alhough we did see a pod of approx 400 dusky dolphins and several hundred sooty shearwaters at the entrance to the sound. Also noticed that the Black Backed Gulls in the sounds had bright yellow legs compared with the gulls further north which have more green-yellow legs.

Next stop on the tour was Mt Cook National Park, not for climbing but for Black stilt - possibly the rarest wader in the world with about 100 or so remaining. Found an adult and juvenile in the delta behind the Glentanner airfield.

The next day was Lake Tekapo, the site for Chukor in NZ. Managed to find a family sat by the roadside - not very exciting

We then returned to Auckland before heading up to Northland for christmas, the only highlight being a possible sparrowhawk/ goshawk sat in a field but by the time I manged to turn the car round and get back it was gone

Then we headed for Hawkes Bay for New Year. So on the 31st of Jan I managed to find the last year tick for 2009 - Grey Tailed Tattler sat amongst a flock of Pacific Golden Plover plus banded and black fronted dotterels running around.

New years day arrived, and kicked off with spoonbill, gannet, fluttering shearwater, WF heron before finding the little egret that frequents the area on January 2nd. but then my luck ran out as I wasn't able to find a long tailed cuckoo despite several hours of searching .

So what will the rest of 2010 bring.......

Spent a week in the lower half of the South Island, in the week prior to Christmas including a few days on Stewart Island. The reason for heading so far south was a pelagic trip being run out of Oban, the main town on Stewart Island, which was going to visit the southern tip of the island in the hope of some southern rarities!

The previous day had seen some bad weather with constant on-off showers and a bit of a gale, but the morning of the pelagic dawned bright with some south-westerlies. So off we set, with the first birds being Blue an Fiordland Crested Penguins. Very shortly afterwards Sooty Shearwaters and White-capped Albatrosses were everywhere and constant throughout the trip.

We headed out to some of the offshore islands where Yellow Eyed Penguins breed and weren't disappointed and also ticked off Black Backed and Red Billed Gulls as well as white fronted tern and NZ Fur Seals. Two breeding pairs of Brown Skua were also seen at extremely close quarters with one bird taking chum out of the hand!!!

Fairy Prions and Common Diving Petrels were next on the list along with Salvins Albatrosss as we headed south. Recent trips had also seen Arctic Tern but no such luck in the WF Tern flocks.

We finally made it to our first destination, Pegasus Harbour, which was a beautiful spot, with calm sheltered waters and pristine untouched vegetation on land, with no sign of human habitation. The Tin Range cold be seen in the distance; the last known wild population of Kakapo, before it was rescued.

As we came out of the harbour, all eyes were on the terns; our target was Antarctic Tern, with this area on the northern extremity of its range, and there it was! One adult summer plumaged bird, dark grey above with a dark breast, black cap and deep red bill. We watched this feed around the boat until a Buller's Albatross appeared. The tern lost to view, we continued to our second destination, an outlying reef.

As we made our way across, a Mottled Petrel flashed past, with its indistinct black 'W' on the upperparts, and rather more obvious black bars on the underwing and black breast.

Finally we reached the reef, and threw out a load of chum, whilst the skipper mde sure we didn't drift too close as there is no coast guard out here! White-capped, Salvins, Southern Royal and Bullers Albatrosses soon appeared, along with Cape Petrels, Sooty Shearwaters and Common Diving Petrels. A White Chinned Petrels put in an appearance, as did a Short Tailed Shearwater (identical to Sooty except that its feet stick out beyond the tail, hence the name). Mottled Petrels 'buzzed' the boat before a Chatham Islands Albatross stole the show and sneaked into the feed frenzy of the back of the boat!!

Another member of the 'Shy' group of Albatrosses (along with NZ white-capped and Salvins), this bird had a beautiful completely grey head with bright yellow bill.

And then we began the long (three hour) journey back, adding Wandering Albatross to the list. Before the final tick back in Oban harbour; a Leopard Seal!!!

Also wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year and good birding for 2010. Cheers Iain

Hello - can't believe its been over a month since I last posted some NZ bird news! In all fairness it's been quite a busy time with work, moving house, christmas, holidays and most importantly some birding!

I had a couple of bird trips organised for December, so I was hoping it would be a bumper month and it didn't disappoint .

First up, an American Golden Plover was reported at Miranda, about an hour south of Auckland, but when I (and only I) turned up the following day to check it out, it was no-where to be seen and hasn't been seen since. This laxidaisical approach to birding in NZ isn't uncommon .

The following day I had arranged a trip out to Mana Island, off Wellington to see Shore Plover and Yellow Fronted Parakeet. The Parakeets can be seen in several places on both islands, but the Shore Plovers are only present on two mainland off-shore islands and the Chatham Islands. So a bit of planning required and a lot of hope for the weather to be kind enough to reach the island. Fortunately it was and the seven of us who made the trip were rewarded.

The day started badly (drunken idiots haressing me at 5.30 am whilst I waited for my lift to the airport) and got worse (a ringed plover, a first for NZ, had been found just outside auckland the previous day), but soon improved.

There was an unexpected day tripper, an antarctic fulmar, which had been found washed up on a beach, recovered and was now ready for release from the boat! As soon as we set it free all the gulls descended expecting a free meal away from the pomerine and arctic skuas that were patrolling the channel between the mainland and the island. The human passengers were then transferred to the island in pairs via a zodiac dingy!

Whilst awaiting my turn, several shore plover were observed flying up and down the landing beach. Once we were all safely transported to the beach, shore plovers were everywhere inclusing two recently fledged chicks and several males defending territory! The plovers got incredibly close to the human visitors, as can be seen in the photos I have sent to Ian.

A walk around the island produced takahe, yellow fronted parakeets and some very cute geckos. We also manged to pick up spoonbill and reef heron flying across the channel between the mainland and the island.

Three days later I made a mad dash through the rush hour traffic to Karaka, South Auckland, in hot pursuit of the ringed plover. However, during the course of the Sunday it was re-identified (via photos) as NZ's 3rd Semipalmated plover.

The plover had been found on a 'king' high tide, i.e. an extremely high high tide, and these were now falling! Unfortunately I couldn't get there until the tide turned, reducing my chances even further, but as I arrived, it was beautifully sunny plus I was the only car - which meant no other birders were on the bird and I would have to find it myself on a falling tide!

Whilst walking in to the shell banks, a weird feeling struck me, I was (hopefully) going to be only the fifth birder to see NZ 3rd Semipalmated plover, a massive FIVE days after it was first found ! Flippin unbelievable and something that would never happen in the UK.

I raced across the shell banks and mud frantically searching for birds of any description, only finding NZ dotterels, and those were few and far between. Eventually I reached the far end, the tide was starting to recede, and then I spotted a group of small waders...wrybill....no something different........ is it... er .... yes, there is it......success and relief. At least for five minutes when it flew off!!

I also travelled around the south island last week - so more bird reports to come, but in the meantime, have great christmas and new year, cheers Iain

Got out and about the greater Auckland region last sunday trying to track down three target birds: Whimbrel; Shining Cuckoo and Banded Rail.

Whimbrel don't occur in huge numbers and tend to shy away, lurking in the mangroves, but eight were reported from the recent wader survey on teh south manukau harbour. So armed with the location details, I set off early on sunday morning. The site is on private land (as are most south manukau wader hot spots) and upon reaching the farmer, I was given permission to drive all the way down to the edge of the estuary, which was something of a bonus.

I could spy the mudflats 100 metres way, so crossed the field and skulked in some long grass as there were several large waders on the mud in front of me. A quick scan revealed about 20 or so bar wits and eight whmibrel - brilliant, I'd cracked it and it was still only 8.30am. Typically though, the whimbrel moved towards the mangroves on the rising tide. As the tide rose, I was also able to count 1000 godwit and 800 knot plus five little terns.

Next up was shining cuckoo. I'd been told that stands of eucalyptus trees were a good bet and where to find a good spot, near miranda shorebird centre, so I headed further south and east into the Hunua Ranges, which also hold Kokako. Upon reaching the eucalyptus, I took out my ipod and speaker and let rip with a blast of shining cuckoo and was both surprised and rewarded when almost instantly, there was a response as I came eye to eye with a diving bombing shining cuckoo which obliging then sat in a adjacent bush and gave stunning views. The cuckoos are a lot bigger than I had imagined, with a beautiful metal green uppers and white under parts, with black barring from the throat to the underside of the tails. The bird soon departed and I headed into the park itself and called in two further cuckoos which eventually sat in the same tree - amazing!

Then I headed back north, through and beyond Auckland to Wenderholm Regional Park for banded rail, acting on another tip off. At the entrance to this park, there is a campsite with a muddy creek alongside where the rails are quite often seen. And so I waited in the car for some action, and didn't have to wait long as I spied movement in the rushes and mangroves, but alas, a fleeting view of the back end of something that resembled a rail or a crake. A few minutes later, a dark shape moved again, before finally there in the middle of the creek was a stunning banded rail. But all too quickly it was gone!

Greetings to northern hemisphere birding fraternity!

this weekend saw the return of the wader surveys, Saturday was the Kiapara Harbour, with myself and one of NZ's top twitchers, Phil Hammond, sent to one of its back corners - not sure if it was punishment for bringing our twitching ways to the sleepy way of life that is NZ birding. Phil is actually British by birth and move to NZ when he 16, but anyway..........

It was a relatively quite, yet somewhat beautiful spot compared with two other members of the team who were sent out to count over 70,000 (yes!) godwits, whilst we managed just one bar-wit, which we tried to string into a black-wit such was the time on our hands. Unfortunately the godwit had a broken leg so not sure how long it will survive. ten spur winged plovers and 70 odd stilts were the only other wader plus two caspian terns, that is until Phil decided to go and check further down the creek whilst mentioning that he was surprised there were no other small waders or terns.

No five minutes after he left, a adult plumaged Little Tern flys in and land on the beach in front of me! Fortunately Phil made it back in time. Did manage to raise our tally of godwits for the day when we dropped into another spot on the way home and found a further 170 birds plus a ferret.

Sunday was a bit of contrast, sent off on my own to count the waders on part of the south manukau harbour! First, I had to find the farm, then negotiate a field full of bullocks, then got zapped by an electric fence and ended up crawling underneath the fence before finally making it to the shell banks, of which there were five to check over a distance of about 2 kms.

So I started at the southern end, working northwards, checking off the godwits, knots, tunstones, black billed gulls, SIPO and VOCs. When I reached the main central bank, I noticed that there were godwits on the northern banks which I hadn't counted yet. I then decided to check the southern banks just to make sure that the tally was still accurate and discovered that another load of godwits had landed.

Fed up of wading (I was counting birds whilst stood in 2 to 3 feet of water) i landed on one of the banks and managed to disturb all the birds to the southern and northern banks, making my job even harder, although I did find a greater sand plover! I eventually managed produce a reasonable count before re-negotiating the bullocks and electric fences before almost driving over a stoat on the way home!

Bit of late news from last weekend..........

Headed down to Miranda for the evening high tide. Cracking light in the early evening. The HT roost was good also, came in a lot higher than I expected. First birds were three NZ dotterel and one sharpie in front of the hide along with several pied stilt in a loose flock which included a smudgie. 21 Royal Spoonbill on the shell bank also.

A scan through the godwits and knots revealed a second sharpie plus several knot which I tried hard to string into great knot There were at least 20 white flagged godwit, one orange flagged godwit and one white flagged knot - all flags were on the tibia's on the right legs.

Looking around for some smaller waders, I spied 2+ wrybill when a GREATER SAND PLOVER poked its head up over the shell bank before running down the near side and disappearing. The wrybill number increase to at least six plus one turnstone. I then spotted the sand plover again, on the shell bank nearest to the hide. However, on closer examination this was a different bird and turned out to be a LESSER SAND PLOVER.

So a fantastic evening's birding!

Bit of late news from last weekend. A birding mate from the south island came up for the franklins gull. Unfortunately it was at its usual haunts. So after several hours, we headed off to Karaka to see what else we could find in the meantime.

Whilst sat on the shell banks Steve suddenly shouts "I've got the Franklins." Unfortunately it remained distant and the heat haze didn't help, so despite distant views steve nudged one closer to the top of the NZ twitching list (he is currently 3rd).

Eagled eyed steve also found a winter plumaged little tern, so one more for my list!

The tern theme continued the following day. I visited Pakiri Beach, about an hour north of Auckland and one of the few places where the NZ sub-species of fairy tern breeds. Currently NZ's rarest bird despite not being a ful species, although such a graduation would improve its chances as more conservation funding would be come available.

So after a walk along the beach with Jo (girlfriend), we came back to the car park and watched two fairy terns fishing and perched on the sand bars - fantastic little birds.

An action packed weekend!

First up was a trip to one of NZs premier wader roosts - Karaka (see previous post). Located on the South Manakau harbour, just south of Auckland, this spot is a collection of shell banks which attract large numbers of godwits and knots. This weekend there was a large high tide of 4.3 metres to coincide with the continuing arrival of the arrival.

I arranged a lift (and access as the banks are accessed via private property) for 8.30 am.

So at 4pm on Friday afternoon a received a phone call from a birding friend "Hi Iain, the Franklin's Gull as been refound just south of Auckland. I'm watching it now, oh no, its flying off!" Great!

I then made the mistake of going out for dinner with some friends, which turned into a late night poker session which ended at 3.30am

And so, I awoke with a start at 8.45am (memories of UK twitches and norfolk trips sprung to mind to which Mr Chorley could probably add a vingette or two ) and quickly got some non alcoholic liquid refreshment and food as well as a coat and optics and raced out of the house and ended up driving myself to Karaka and beating my original lift there in the process! I also had to wade through two foot of water to reach the shell banks.

So, loads of godwits and knots, some wrybill, turnstone, five red necked stints and three curlew sandpipers later, an eastern curlew flies past (lifer) and then a sand plover pops up, just as I'm starting to figure out which out which one of the two species it is, along walks a stonking greater sand plover in summer plummage and which dwarfs the first plover, which is now obviously a lesser sand plover (or Mongolian Dotterel to the kiwis). Things calmed down a bit as the birds were forced onto the shell banks.

After leaving Karaka, I headed over the Ardmore Aerodrome, in South Auckland where the Franklins Gull (3rd for NZ) was last seen in the morning. The directions were that it was last seen outside the flying school cafe. And thats exactly where I found it, sat on the edge of the runway, outside the cafe, with planes whizzing past it every ten minutes or so.

I was lucky enough to get a place on the 'Stars of Tiri' evening walk this weekend as part of conservation week. Initial forecasts had suggested heavy rain on saturday but the day remained dry though overcast before a light rain started late afternoon, just prior to boarding the boat. The fog also started to appear at the auckland ferry terminal, so i had my doubts but the ferry staff assured us the trip was still going ahead. By the tiem we reached the island, visibility had improved and the rain was starting to ease so that it was barely noticable.

All the punters were then divided into groups and set about walking different tracks and routes around the island looking for the stars, and not just those in the sky which were hiding!

On the way to Hobb's Bay, there was some initial confusion (chinese whispers) as the guide stopped to point out a penguin but which four people down the line had turned into a Kiwi! A few more penguins were encountered along the track, including a pair which seemed not only to be romantically involved, but unsure about what to do and where to go when confronted by ten wildlife enthusiasts! We eventaully took the inititive and carefully moved around them to within one metre.

We then headed further along to where the Grey Faced Petrel nest, and whilst several were calling, the guide was unable to call one in for a look. He didn't try to inpersonate the weta we heard though.

And what of the kiwi, which according to the guide are the rarest of the kiwi species (Okarito brown Kiwi are rarer). Well heard only I'm afraid, two females and a male.

However, we did see a tuatara, which was very cool. So an enjoyable evening but it looks like a return visit is on the cards.......

In stark contract to the previosu day, I spent a beautiful sunny afternoon at Miranda Shorebird Centre, so much so that I sat outside the hide sunbathing and scoping out the freshly arrived knot and godwits, maybe a 1000+ of each species. The Knots had quite a variety of plumage which made for some interesting viewing and a few double takes especially as there appeared to be a size difference in quite a few of the knot which I asumed was due to the loss of fat reserves during the migration south.

Three Pacific Golen Plover (my first lifer at miranda) were also present along with a few banded dots and wrybill plus caspian tern and black billed gull.

ON (pls note this very carefully ) my way to spot of wine tasting with my good lady (bins are banned!!) i spotted a Kookaburra. |Wasn't there on the trn but I had been drinking by then!

These were introduced into the Auckland area a while back at Kawau Island, about 45 mins north of Auckland and have since expanded their range onto the mainland. Only saw my first one ever in Australia nine months ago.

A bit of mega news, probable Franklins Gull sees yesterday about 45 min south of Auckland. No news since.

No some old sailor with a cross-bow shot it before I could get there

I did send a black browed albatross back home a couple of weeks ago! Did you not see it???

I remember you had a good start by the time the rest of us turned up!

Next time you're out and about can you stuff a couple of kakapos or an odd albatross in a bag somewhere to bring home just to ease the pain for the rest of us here

Keep the posts coming M.

flippin heck Mike - thats a good memory! Don't suppose you can tell me what my norfolk trip list was that year could you please?

I think we gate crashed another caravan somewhere else the following year and the subsequent year I ended up sleepin in the back of Mike Baileys car (also very small) as Gary and Mike had pulled rank and taken up the front seats. We stopped in the golden pheasant site car park and at stupid am I woke up to hear mike and gary wispering about the ca that had just parked up next to us and how it was probably a drugs run.

Later in the day we recounted the story to some birders at the old oriole site. Turns out they were the occupiers of the other car and thought we were drug running!!

Why no-one thought the other car might have been a bunch of birders waiting for dawn so that they could tick off golden pheasant I'm not sure, but hey ho!

For anyone wanting to read the latest NZ bird news, that has now been moved to the norfolk thread instead

Only kidding, drove six hours south on saturday am to see nankeen night heron. Long story but the up shot is that the local 'iwi', i.e. maori tribe believe the birds carry the spirit of a dead ancestor so the birds and the site are a bit sensitive. Fortunately a couple of local birders have managed to arrange access so a birding mate and I headed down and waited until sunset, when eight birds slowly emerged from the cover of a cypress tree, showed off for a bit and just as sliently as they first apeared, took off down river to feed or play poker. No only kidding, they don't play poker, well actually, no one knows what they do so they might..........

Another six hour drive home this morning via a blue duck with bins and without an uninterested girlfriend and finally via a cattle egret site.

Cheers e

Yes I remember When last seen you and Dave were off to call on some unsuspecting friends in, I think, Kings Lynn with a plan to 'accidentally' overstay the night.

Haha, cheers Mike, the mini has long gone, graduated to a polo, which has since departed. I ended up sleeping in the back of the mini on a trip to norfolk once, it had rigid seats so my mate, noddy (aka Dave Reid) and I had to sit on teh back seat, with our legs over the front seat and heads on the extremely small parcel shelf!

Running around in toyota now i think, it was cheap!!

If birders round the world start playing white stripes everywhere, we know who to blame. Hope you're not still travelling in minis

Hello everyone,

Hadn't realised that it was the beginning of July when I last provided a NZ update! Anyway, i've been getting out a bit. At the beginning of July I visited a site for Blue Duck, or Whio to give it its Maori name, in the central north island, and a couple of weeks ago I visited two separate high tides at Miranda and Mangere. The Miranda HT was a bit of a let down but I did find a Great (white) Egret (or White Heron as the kiwi's refer to it). The Mangere HT produced a probable Sharp Tailed Sandpiper plus one Hudsonian Godwit and a second Hudwit or Blackwit - unfortunately the bird didn't show its underwing so we couldn't clinch the id.

I've also just spent three days on the South Island with a target list of 12 species!

Saturday was spent at Kaikoura, seabird mecca of the world where I managed to record 8 different species of albatross (northern and southern royal, gibsons and antipodean, black browed, southern bullers, salvins and white capped), plus both southern and nothern giant petrels, cape petrels (both snares and southern ssp), Huttons and Fluttering shearwaters, fairy prion and grey faced petrel. Spent about four hours at sea, just me and the skipper of the boat, absolutely fantastic!!

Also found a singing male Cirl Bunting on Kaikoura penisular!! They reckon there are more cirl bunting in NZ than the UK.

I then moved north to the Marlborough Sounds to catch up with a long staying Black Kite and Glossy Ibis. A birding friend over here had spent 16 hours waiting for the kite! I had to wait about 30 mins on sunday morning in what was the best weather of the day. Within another 30 minutes I had also bagged the glossy ibis and it was only 9.30am. The ibis was feeding about five metres from the side of the road!

The weather turned and so did I, back south, forsaking King Shag for another time. I eventually truned up at a river estuary 30 mins north of Christchurch, where black stilt sometimes winter and baillons crake can also be found. I found neither in the constant drizzle, but did find 20+ black fronted tern, a lovely looking bird, charcoal grey, with a white face, black cap and orange bill. The star bird was NZ falcon that flew within two metres or me and had to dodge my car!!

Monday morning found me at Lakes Forsyth and Ellesmere. The former holds about 200 Southern Crested Grebes, which looked stunning in morning sun, plus scaup and a white heron. The latter held good numbers of shoveler and a few spoonbill.

I finished the trip at a spot called coopers lagoon, where a friend had suggested I might find baillons crake. So armed with an ipod and speaker, I set forth. Within minutes of arriving I flushed a bittern, before taking position in a likely spot and played the 'lure' and waited, and waited and waited. Eventually, a glimpsed some movement in the reeds, a dark crake, and continued to lure the bird but not before blasting out some white stripes. The crake was undeterred!! I was eventually rewarded with great but brief views of a stunning baillons crake despite the slip of my fingers on the ipod.

A fantastic three days, where I managed 8 out of my 12 target birds.

The birding community in NZ has just set-up its own forum at www.birdingnz.net (i think), just do a google search.

Cheers Iain

On Sunday, I helped out with the South Manakau Harbour wader survey. Unfortunately the weather was rubbish and didn't stop raining until 4pm, and even then it only stopped for about 30 minutes.

The Manakau Harbour lies immediately south of central Auckland, on the western side of the North Island. In several places there has been extensive development along its shores, in particular on its northern edge (i.e. south Auckland). The southern side however is largely bordered by farmland and hence private access. Auckland airport also extends into the Manakau, which is great when landing/ taking off if you are trying to spot a white heron but also a little disconcerting if you aren't familar with the airport and think the plane is trying to land on water!

The Manakau is also home to Mangere Sewage Works, which I have visited and reported on several times already. It was from my trips to Mangere that I first learnt of the wader roosts on the South Manakau, in particular Karaka! It was at Karaka I was told where I would have the best chance of seeing many of the rarer wader species.

After a false start by me turning up two hours early ( keen i know) we all finally met up and got dispatched. I was paired with David Lawrie again (we were paired up for the survey at Miranda) and sent to the area referred to as 'Kids'. Or at least that what i thought they referred to it as. As per the Miranda survey, David, and one or two other, turned up in shorts and sandals, whereas I turned up looking like I was about to climb Mount Everest. Fortunately I had also packed my trainers!!

So with rolled up waterproofs, we wandered across some water logged cow paddocks, streams, mud, electrified fences, more mud and a stile, before finally making the beach. Then we waded through some more mud to the shell banks. The first banks we reached contained about 300 knot, a few bar-wits, a NZ Dotterel, some wrybill and a turnstone.

So we pressed on further along the shell banks until we reached a deep channel where we agreed that David would continue, i.e. wade through the freezing cold water to reach the paddocks on the far side in order to count the oiks, whilst I back tracked to count the waders on the mud. David was about half way across the channel when he let out a cry. Thinking he was in trouble or had fallen over, I turned to see him waving his arms, not in distress, but at a group of distance spoonbill, or ducks, or terns or even gulls. I wasn't sure which, so counted the lot and came up with about 200 brown blobs on the water, 20 ish large white birds (spoonbill) and about 40 smaller white birds......you get the idea!

So a slowly made my way back along the shell banks counting knot, wrybill (which you can get quite close to), banded dotterel and godwits and found 9 turnstone. David eventually returned also, catching me up at the first, or should that be last, shell bank where the majority of the waders were congregating. And then it got exciting!

First David found two curlew sandpipers feeding on the mud by the incoming tide (a NZ tick), then as I was counting the knot sheltered on the shell bank, up pops a Greater Sand Plover!! Another NZ tick followed by my first telling off for twitching !! Moments later I found my second Red Neck Stint in two days, closely followed by another telling off .

After a few more minutes we decided to call it a day, and a very successful one too!

Iain Johnson wrote:

---

We also sawa cape barren goose on the way home after one of the other eagle eyed birders spotted it at 80 kmh on his way to the wader survey!!

---

Didn't know Riggers had relatives in NZ!

Greetings from the other side of the world!

I was helping out on wader surveys again this weekend. On Saturday I visited Big Sand Island (its exactly that) in the Kiapara Harbour. This is a lovely spot really off the beaten track and as a result not visited that frequently but a greta wader location. To reach the island you have to drive across a lot of private land before wading across a shallow channel. Fortunately the island is protected as a reserve so access is permitted.

Once my team reached the island, we immediately started to hear (NI) fern bird and set about trying to attract one with some pishing but to no avail. We continued on our way around the island to its northern tip and where the majority of the waders roost. From our vantage point in the dunes, the count revealed approx 150 Knot and 150 Bar Tailed Godwits, with some of each species in breeding plumage.

We also counted around 250 Banded Dotterel, 20+ NZ Dotterel, 170 Wrybill and 500 + SIPOs with about 7 VOCs mixed in. Good numbers of Caspian terns too. There were also about 170 white fronted terns on the shoreline so decided to head out towards them in the hope that we could find something interesting. We did but no in the tern flock, which had nothing interesting btw! Hidden amongst the wrybill was a partially summer plumaged red necked stint, my first in NZ. We also sawa cape barren goose on the way home after one of the other eagle eyed birders spotted it at 80 kmh on his way to the wader survey!!

I was involved in a wader survey on Sunday on the Firth of Thames, one of, if not the most important, estuaries in New Zealand for waders. The survey was organised by the Ornithological Society of New Zealand and is carried out three times at year at site sites nationwide. There is another survey in a fortnight of the estuaries around Auckland.

This was the first time I have done survey work of any kind since the early 1990s when I carried out some WWT surveys on local water bodies within Ashton under Lyne and Stalybridge.

The survey team met at the Miranda Naturalists HQ and were duly dispatched into teams to cover the surrounding area. The area involved is vast, and some preliminary survey work had been carried out on the Saturday. Not only is there the esturary and wader roost to cover, but the mangroves around the estuary edge, several river mouths and all the adjacent farmland.

I was paired with David Lawrie, who is the chair of the Trust itself and is involved in projects researching the East Asian 'Flyway' including the search for Red Knot stop over sites. The flyway is under increasing pressure from development and reclamation in Korea and China inparticular, resulting in a loss of stop over and feeding sites for a lot of species including the globally threatened spoon billed sandpiper. Consequently, as these sites are reclaimed, the birds are having to travel further to find suitable food.

Fortunately we were 'given' the area immediately south of the Trust HQ although in hindsight this wasn't preferential treatment. We started off OK, wandering down a farm track and counting the Oysterctachers, Godwits, Stilts and Black Billed Gulls. Conditions would be best described as moist, that is until David decided that it was best to avoid some fields which looked particularly muddy. The alternative route turned out to be far worse, as we waded through a foot of a mud/ cow pat mixture.

Fortunately my combination of mountineering boots, gaiters and salopettes prevented my feet and legs from getting wet and stinky. David had opted for the shorts and deck shoes approach, which kind of made sense as he had a lot less to clean off when we got back!

Overall, we counted over a 1000 south island pied oiks, several hundred stilts and managed a sensus record 150 banded dotterel. Other highlights from the survey include two great white egrets of the newly spilt asian species, cattle egret, australian bittern and a summer plumaged hudsonian godwit.

The biggest surprise was meeting fellow manchester birder Nigel Milius! originally from Poynton, he was active with the Stockport RSPB Group until his travels took him around the world initially as a chef. Ended up in Antarctica where he became an expert of the bird life there. He then 'graduated' to become a bird guide primarily on boats including annual trips on the P&O ferries between portsmouth and spain. The only name he could remember was John Heddon!! If you are interested in getting in touch with nigel, let me know and I'll let you know his web address.

-- Edited by Iain Johnson on Monday 15th of June 2009 08:54:53 AM

I heard some sad news last weekend regarding E7, the record breaking Bar Tailed Godwit which was fitted with a radio transmitter in February 2007. The transmitters were fitted to several birds in order to track the migration route of the species. E7 set the record for the longest non-stop migration by a bird, Alaska to New Zealand, a distance of over 11,500 km in just 8 days!

Unfortunately E7 has lost one leg and looks like she is destined to spend the rest of her days in New Zealand.

Saturday morning saw me and another birder, John Stewart, whom I have been out with a few times now, head off to Mangere for the 10.30am hide tide. I've noticed over a few weeks now that the high water here seems to stay put for quite a long period so even two hours later, the water is still quite high. The main wader roosts uses raised shell banks at the side of the estuary and therefore are visible for quite long periods of time.

So this morning produced all the usual suspects: Bar Wits, Wrybill and NZ Dotterel but in reduced numbers. Apparently our count of 20 NZDs last weekend was a high count for the site! However, there were several thousand SIPOs with a handful of VOCs mixed in plus about 175 spoonbill.

A check of the sewage outlet channel and lagoon produced 7 Black Fronted Dotterel, in two separate groups, 7 or 8 NZ Dabchick and at least 20 Sacred Kingfisher feeding in an area of about half a football pitch. Unbelievable! Never get that in the UK.

We then headed off further south to explore some new territory on the southern shore line of the Manakau Harbour. After checking a possible access route, we wre driving back up a small country lane when I notice a pond adjacent to the road with some reedbeds behind it and thought that is would make a good Bittern spot.

The next thing I did was scream at John to stop the car as there was a Bittern stood right by the pond . We managed to pull the car over and sneek back to the pond and watch the bittern for a few minutes before we accidently flushed it whilst hiding behind a hedge and it flew into the reeds. But looks like a good spot for future!

A trip out on Saturday, on what was also the first day of the duck hunting season! Fortunately no hunters were encountered.

Visited some wetlands to the NW of Auckland, on the Kiapara Penisular. 100 or so Shoveler, 10 scaup and 2 NZ Dabchick were the highlights. Also found a group of 13 Australian Little Grebe surface feeding together.

Then off to Mangere again for high tide. In amongst the 460 bar tailed gowits was a HUDSONIAN GODWIT. There was also 20 NZ Dotterel, 1 Banded Dotterel, and loads of pied stilt, wrybill and sipos.

The dotterels were loosely asociated with the wrybill flock. However, they were always sat at the far right hand end of the flock. Every time the wrybills were spooked and took flight and then re landed, there would always be a couple of dotterel in amongst them. Once then landed, the dotterels would then bulldozer their way through the wrybill flock back to the far right hand end!!



-- Edited by Iain Johnson on Sunday 3rd of May 2009 08:53:24 PM

Had a trip to Mangere today, which is large sewage farm and estuary adjacent to the airport, perfect for your first taste of NZ birding! Also one of NZ's premier wader locations but vastly underwatched, as are most places in NZ. There are three bird hides and an estuary walk enabling you to get close views of the godwits and wrybills at high tide roosts.

There were about 400 Bar Tailed Godwits and maybe a 1000 wrybill. Apparently there was a greater sand plover knocking about with the wrybill but didn't connect. There is also a hudsonian and asiatic black tailed godmiw - so hopefully these will over winter giving me chance to catch up with them. Other waders included a turnstone, NZ dotterel, SIPO and Pied Stilt and I also found Black Fronted Dotterel, which is a recent coloniser from Australia.

Wildfowl included mallard/ grey duck, grey teal, NZ scaup, black swan and Australian shoveler. NZ Dabchick were also knocking about as were WF heron, Australian harrier and an Arctic Skua which flew across the road in front of my car.

Just back from Miranda Shorebird Centre, which is an hour south of Auckland and one of the best places to see waders. Highlights today include over 2000 Wrybill, several hundred Bar Tailed Godwits and Red (Lesser) Knot, some of which were in breeding plumage, loads of SIPOs, Pied Stilits including a hybrid black/ pied stilt, 14 Royal Spoonbill, NZ and Banded Dotterel.

There is accomodation available at the reserve, which is located on the firth of Thames (inbetween Auckland and the Coromandel Penisular) plus ringing courses. It all changes in summer when the northern hemisphere waders appear for their winter sojourn!!

Went for a walk on an almost deserted but beautiful beach about an hour north of Auckland today. As well as VOC, NZ Dotterel and WF terns, there was a raft of at least 1000 Fluttering Shearwaters, which was quite mobile. Fantastic sight!

On the way back from the Three Kings Pelagic we stopped off at Unahi Road, north of Kaitaia to check out reports of a White Winged Black Tern. Within moments of getting out of the car Brent found a common tern (rare bird for NZ) and then the WWBT flew into view.

This is location is a bit of a rarity hot spot having turned up Glossy Ibis and Greenshank recently.

I went on a four day pelagic off the tip of the North Island last weekend to try to catch up with some of the sub tropical and tropical seabirds such as tropicbirds and frigatebirds.

The trip started on Friday when I was picked up in Auckland by Ian 'Sav' Saville and Brent Stephenson, who run Wrybill Tours out here in NZ. Sav actually hails from the UK and has been living over here for about 10 years or so and it was Brent and Sav who re-discovered the New Zealand Storm Petrel. They also run the NZ 200 Club!!

On the way north we stopped off to see a pair of Barn Owls, that had turned up from Australia and had been found breeding. No-one knows when or how these birds turned up and whether it was as a pair or individuals who happened to turn up at the same spot. Anyway, in what was possibly NZ's biggest ever twitch, as a whopping 8, yes 8, birders sat in field waiting for a Barn owl to show up which it duly did after about 2 hours and just before we were about to call it a night.

The four days on the boat were brilliant. We originally planned to moor off the Three Kings Island but the weather prevented this so we spent each night moored just off the mainland. So each day we headed off into deep water and started to chum to create a slick and sat and waited to see what it attracted.

We were treated to loads of Bullers, Fluttering and Flesh Footed Shearwaters, Black and Common Diving Petrels and Campbells, Bullers, Wandering (both Gibsons and Antipodean in varying phases) and White Capped Albatrosses everyday. Cook's Petrels were seen most days as were Little Shearwaters, Fairy Prions and Grey Ternlets.

The highlights of the trip were a single Kermadec Petrel, Grey-Faced Petrels, White Naped Petrels, Black Winged Petrels and Wilsons, White Faced and New Zealand Storm Petrels. The absolute highlight was a Black (White Capped) Noddy which we found in a sheltered bay off the mainland and which due to the area being under watched could have been hanging around for months. This is one of only a handful of mainland records.

We also found Brown, Arctic and South Polar Skuas and a Northern Royal Albatross showed up on the last day.

Other memorable moments included seeing Marlin, attracting a blue shark to the back of the boat with the chum, watching flying fish gliding over the sea, a NZ fur seal, common dolphins and pilot whales. We also spent each evening fishing for tea and usually caught Kingfish, snapper, trevally, crayfish and paua (a type of mollusc).

Went to Tiri Tiri Matangi today, which is an Island in the Hauraki Gulf about an hour north of Auckland. Its an open scantuary, i.e. anyone can visit without a permit but you have to check for rodents etc. 11 species of bird have been introduced as well as tuatara and geckos plus an extensive replanting programme of native vegetation.

Its one of the best places in NZ to visit to see the endemic birds and can be visited as a day trip or overnight as Little Spotted Kiwi can be found on the island. But you'll need to book ahead as its a popular destination. My target birds were Spotless Crake, Brown Quail (introduced from Australia) and Kokako. Plus I hoped to see most of the other endemics.

I caught the ferry from central Auckland but there is also one additional stop at Gulf Harbour, about an hour north. On route to the island I manged to see over 100 Blue Penguin, 200+ Futtering S/W, 4 Arctic Skua (both pale and dark phase), 30+ Bullers S/W, Gannet, Red Billed and Black Baced Gulls and White Fronted Terns. There were also two reef herons sculking on the groyne at Gulf Harbour.

As we approached the island there were 2 Spur Winged Plovers, 1 Reef Heron and 8 Pied Shags sat on some rocks just off the landing jetty. After an introductory talk from the rangers I set off for the pond where the crakes have been seen recently. Its just from the landing jetty at the beginning of the Wattle Track (more on this later).

Several guides were taking groups around the island and stopped off at the pond as it also holds a pair of Brown Teal, although not today as the water level had dropped quite significantly. However this didn't stop the first guide pointing out the Brown Teal to his group which had me rubbing my eyes as I tried to work out where he was referring to but decided that he was seeing things!

The second guide then pointed out a Fernbird to her group which was in fact a Bellbird. The third guide was explaining the birds that can be seen at the pond when a stitchbird and bellbird appeared, but didn't notice and didn't seem to happy when I pointed both the birds in question out to him and his group.

Anyway, everyone moved on and left me in peace and quite. 30 minutes a spotless crake appeared from nowhere (i'd turned round to look at something else) and walked around the pond to be joined by another crake which flew in from a nearby tree. Then two Saddleback appeared as well as Bellbirds and Red-Crowned Parakeets! Unbelievable.

The crakes disappeared and I headed up the Wattle Track. I was immediately confronted by North Island Robins, Saddlebacks, Bellbirds, Tui, Whiteheads and Stitchbirds all the way along. I turned one corner and there were two Takahe walking towards me and passing within half a metre. Further on I found a Brown Quail, which rapidly turned into five which run up and down the path between me and another couple. I also found a family group later on with six chicks (a late brood?). Perhaps the oddest and slightly disturbing sighting was a Takahe walking around the cafe looking for scraps (there are signs warning people not to feed the Takahe).

Unfortunately I couldn't find a Kokako. Maybe the island was to busy or wrong time of day/ year. I'll return anyway for this and Kiwi. I also discovered that both grey faced and common diving petrel both breed on the island.

A great day though and I've now since over 100 species in NZ this year. The record, held by one of the bird tour guides, is 206.

The following day (after the kiwi spotting) we stopped at Waipu on the return journey from Bay of Islands to Auckland. Waipu is important as it holds 2 or 3 pairs of Fairy Tern of the race davisae which is unique to NZ and of which there are about 40 birds left in the world. So i think its NZ rarest bird, albeit a sub-species. Nonetheless, there is a protection programme in place to save this enigmatic tern.

A very easy location to find, located in a beautiful spot just to the east of the main village.

Unfortunately I didn't find any terns and my girlfriend and her mother didn't have the patience to stick it out! However, I did find several new birds for NZ list including NZ Dotterel (world lifer as well), Turnstone, Sharp Tailed Sandpiper and Lesser Knot some of which were in summer plumage. Other birds included WF Tern, Caspian Tern, Pied Shag, Pied Stilt, VOC, SIPO and Bar Tailed Godwits including summer plumaged individuals.

Perhaps the highlight of the return journey was the village of Kawakawa, made famous by the reclusive Austrian artist Friedensreich (Frederick) Hundertwasser who put the village on the international map by renovating the pubic toilets into a work of art in 1997. Interesting, he lived from 1973 until his death in 2000 without electricity!