The plane from San Francisco touched down in Auckland at around 4:50 in the morning, local time. Of course, my pack was one of the last ones loaded off the plane, so my family and I had to wait in the luggage claim area for a good half hour, cutting down on the time we had before our plane to Nelson lifted off. On the ten-minute walk over to the domestic terminal, no bird stirred in the early morning darkness. When we reached the terminal, we bought breakfast and waited to board the Nelson plane. There was a twenty-minute delay due to a maintenance issue with the plane, but otherwise the ride south went off without a hitch. An hour later, we arrived to an overcast day in Nelson. Dad went to rent the car while Mom, Sarah, and I went to the “baggage claim,” which is really just an outside spot where they bring carts of luggage to for people to claim.
Right across the road from the terminal is a little grassy area with some trees growing there. As soon as I saw this spot, I dropped my bag next to Mom, grabbed my binoculars, and headed towards the grass. I instantly spotted a half-eaten apple lying on the ground, with two birds pecking at it. I didn’t even need my binoculars for these two, for I already knew this species very well: House Sparrow. A flash of movement in the tree looming above the apple caught my eye, however, and I raised my binoculars to find a Silvereye looking at me from among the dark branches. First life bird of the trip and number 597 in the world!
I returned to the terminal to check in with my family and then went back out to the grass. This time there were a few Common Blackbirds and Song Thrushes hopping about. Suddenly, a cry from above caused me to look up and find a Red-billed Gull, number 598 on my life list, peering down at me. I went to check the tarmac in vain for plovers, but along the way saw a few Common Chaffinches and found a Common Starling sitting on the tail of the plane on which I had flown to Nelson.
Red-billed Gull
By this time, Dad had rented the car, which turned out to be parked right across the street next to the patch of grass I had crisscrossed in search of birds only a few minutes before. We all tossed our bags in the car and Dad took the wheel and off we went. I was supposed to be navigating us out of the airport, but Sarah’s call of “black duck over there!” pulled my head up just in time to see a male Paradise Shelduck with two females: 599 on my life list. While I was still looking up, my eyes fell upon a lamppost with a Kelp Gull sitting on it, the six hundredth species of bird I had seen in the world! Before I could return to the maps, we drove by a bit of tussock with four or five Purple Swamphens on it.
Purple Swamphen
Once we turned onto route 60 and headed out of Nelson, I started seeing more and more birds. Right at the junction of routes 6 and 60, I picked up Rock Pigeons in a field west of the road. A few minutes later, two Spur-winged Plovers flashed across the road to join four others standing in a vineyard. Right after that I saw a Common Pheasant walking down an embankment left of the road, and a White-faced Heron flew across the road. I would see many more of these common birds sitting on poles, treetops, and marshy fields, though this was my 603rd bird for my life list. A little further down the road, we came back down to drive along the beach, and three black Variable Oystercatchers flushed from the rocks. Moments later a New Zealand Pigeon flashed across the road above the car.
After a few more minutes of driving with seeing only White-faced Herons, Common Blackbirds, and Song Thrushes, the embankments on both sides of the road fell away to reveal huge mudflats on the right and a large pond on the left. At the very start of the mudflats, I saw a Little Pied Shag, and then turned to look over at the pond. On the pond were Mallards and Eurasian Coots, and then right next to the road was sitting an Australasian Harrier. Above the pond, dozens of Welcome Swallows were flashing about chasing insects. Looking back to the other side of the road on the mudflats, I saw a ton of Pied Oystercatchers with a few White-headed Stilts mixed in. The rest of the drive to Kaiteriteri passed with no new species appearing.
At Kaiteriteri we got out to stretch our legs, and I immediately spotted a few European Goldfinches. On the beach were some more Variable Oystercatchers, but my focus was all on the dense foliage up the cliff on the other side of the stream. One of the black birds I was following with my binoculars stopped long enough for me to get an okay view of a Tui. Continuing on towards Marahau, where we were going to stay the next two nights, we passed a female California Quail on the side of the road. The rest of the drive had only a few Common Blackbirds in the way of avian life, so I was excited when we pulled in to the Marahau Lodge.
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