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.

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!!!

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.

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

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.

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

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

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!

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!

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.

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.

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

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

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!!

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

Iain Johnson wrote:

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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!!

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Didn't know Riggers had relatives in NZ!

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

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!

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.

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!

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).

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!

Went on the dolphin and whale watching trip out of Auckland yesterday afternoon - nice sunny day.

Nothing unexpected: Bullers, Fluttering and Flesh Footed Shearwaters, Black Petrel, Australian Gannet, Arctic Skua chasing a White Fronted Tern and loads of common dolphins bow riding the boat!!

Fantastic

Hello,

Went on the New Zealand Storm Petrel Pelagic yesterday (Saturday 21st Feb). This is a full day trip leaving from Leigh, which is about an hour North of Auckland.

A quick bit of history! Known from only three museum specimens, the NZ SP was though to be extinct until 2003 (I think), with all intervening records thought to be a pale form of Wilsons SP. Since this time there have been numerous pelagic/ research trips into the Hauraki Gulf, off Auckland to search for this elusive species, which to date, there is no known breeding site, although the main researchers are of the opinion that the birds do breed on islands in the gulf and openly admit this. There is a more detailed history on the website nzseabirds.com.

Nor is there a definitive population estimate but researchers believe that it could be around 100 birds, making it one of the rarest birds in the world. Nor is it know where the birds spend the winter, although a possible birds was sighted in New Caledonia. The birds return to the gulf in in late september/ early October, and leave from March onwards although later sighting have been made.

So the day dawned dry and somewhat overcast with some clear skies in places, which was in marked contrast to the preceeding 24 hours where NZ was battered by a period or extremely heavy rain.

Once we arrived at Leigh, the skies started to clear and gave way to a beautiful sunny day. The wind also eased, which in turn resulting in the seas becoming much calmer having started with 2 metre swells! My companions for the trip were Geordie (the boats skipper), Chris Gaskin who runs the trips, Athena a South Africa lady who now lives in Auckland and is interested in wildlife photography, and Larry and Kev from the UK. Larry and his girlfried have travelled over land and sea all the way to Australia, with there first flight being OZ to NZ!! Apart from flights back to OZ and then Indonesia, they intend to travel back to the UK overland. He has a blog on birdforums.

So, off we set and pretty much the first day of the day was a flesh footed Shearwater (FF SW), followed by hundreds of Fluttering Shearwaters (FSW). Cooks Petrels (CP) then started to appear (my first lifer of the day) followed by Black Petrels (BP) (2nd lifer).

BP and FF SW are very similar, and to make matters worse there are also (at least) two further confusion species: Westland (WP) and White Chinned Petrels (WCP) (see my Kaikoura entries and pictures). The WP and WCP Petrels are extremely rare visitors to the gulf, whereas both BP and FF SW both breed in the gulf.

The three petrels are darker, i.e. more black, than the FF SW and have a white bill. WP is the largest of the three petrels, with a dark tip to the bill, where as WCP and BP are a simialr size and differ in that WCP has a completely white bill, whilst BP has a black tip to the bill (and therefore is essentially a smaller version of WP).

FF SW in contract is browner, with pink legs and bill, which has a black tip, and isn't as bulky. BP can look barrel chested. Hopefully you are still with me here!!

Cooks Petrel, also has a confusion species in Pycrofts Petrel (PP), which also breed in the gulf. The two are virtually impossible to separate at sea, except in extremely close observation, e.g. a few metres! I won't go into the key difference here though, but maybe refer to Scofield and Onleys excellent book on pelagic species.

So back to the trip. Eventually we stopped the boat and started chumming. Whilst we were watching, Geordie was fishing! An ex-fisherman and conservation worker, Geordie has also been key in re-discovering NZ SP!

Larry suddenly spotted a SP species, so we moved up a bit, when suddenly I spot a black and white stormie! Yes!! It was the fabled NZ SP dancing about 30 metres off the boat giving everyone stunning views. Eventually we moved on!

Ourt next two chumming locations didn't yield any NZ SP, but we did see plenty of BP & FF SW. Geordie also caught a one metre Kingfish which he cut up for fresh sushi later one! Delicious. We also saw flying fish, which are weird, as intially we though they were birds gliding low over the water.

We also cruised by a gannet colony where there is also a colony of Grey Ternlets (4th lifer of the day) and pied shags.

We moved out to deeper water and spotted NZ SP along with White faced SP at a couple of location, whilst Geordie caught a couple of 4 foot long School Sharks - amazing. Fortunately these got released!

As well as the chum, bits of fish were thrown out which the BP and FF SW gratefull received, often diving under the water to retreive right by the boat, and then circling around before diving back under for some more.

Then the big debate took place as a Cooks 'type' Petrel flew by at close range giving great views and leading to calls of was it a Pycrofts! Chris wasn't certain, pointing out that whilst it exhibited features indicative of a PP, it wasn't clear cut, i.e. the features may indicate a more heavily marked Cooks instead.

Then another bird came into view, leaving the boat under doubt as to what its identity was: a PYCROFTS!! Despite the relative abundance of numbers locally, this is still a major rarity due to the confusion with Cook's Petrel.

If anyone is interested in the key differences between the two species and my own experiences I'll happily write something up. Just conscious of the length and detail of this post!

So there we were, on the final chum of the day, the sun beating down, watching 2 NS SP, 2 WF SP, several BP and FF SW, with occasional Cooks and a single Pycrofts with fresh sushi!! It doesn't get any better than this does it?

But it doesn't end there! As we where heading back, and the more pelagic species were replaced by increasing numbers of FSW, a fin was spotted on teh surface - A Hammerhead Shark - wow!! Didn't get to see the hammer, no-one was brave enough to risk the waters, although according to Geordie, they aren't aggressive to humans!.

So, all in all a great days birding. Only saw 15 species, including mallard, house sparrow, red billed gull and black backed gull. But the lack of numbers was more than compensated for by the sheer quality of the species seen and the views obtained.

NZ SP - 4+
WF SP - 4+
FF SW - 6+
BP - 20+
Grey Ternlet - 100+
Gannet - 50+
Cooks petrel - 20+
Pycrofts petrel - 1+?
Bullers Shearwater - 100+ including groups of 20+ birds sat in rafts
RB Gull
Black Blacked Gull
Pied Shag
Fluttering Shearwater - 200+