Sunday, September 6, 2009
Rye Beaches
Took a trip up to Rye, New Hampshire yesterday to see my grandparents. I got the usual birds (Great Black-backed Gull, American Herring Gull, Common Pigeon, Common Starling, House Sparrow, etc.). On top of these birds, however, I got three species that were new for me in New Hampshire: Common Eider, Least Sandpiper, and Western Sandpiper!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Day 10: Aoraki/Mount Cook
Wow, compared to the complete lack of new birds, today was great for birding with four life birds! Dad and I woke up early to quest for Black Stilts, and then the four of us took a few hikes in the area. We returned to the lodge for a late lunch, relaxed there for a while, and had dinner, followed by another fun conversation, though this time not with Sarah and her sister.
Having woken up at 7:00AM, Dad and I drove south for twenty mintues to the place that the Department of Conservation woman had directed us to. While we were on the drive down, a single Black-fronted Tern flew over our car towards the river. Here, amongst a copse of willows, a small gravel track lead down towards the shingle riverbed. Dad parked the car, and we got out.
Instantly, two subadult Black Stilts flew over our heads and landed a few feet in front of us. Within a few seconds, they were joined by three more, all five of them only partially black. As Dad and I headed down the track, at least ten more subadults flew in to follow us. Apparently, the DOC people had been feeding them, and the stilts believed that we brought food. After a few minutes, I spotted two more stilts, this time all black, which did not fly over to us. These were two of the adults that had been in the area when the subadults were released. Over the course of the short hike, we saw seven pure black adults.
Black Stilt Adult
Over the river, I saw several more Black-fronted Terns wheeling back and forth, but Dad and I could not see a way to cross the deeper water where the small track ended. Here, in a valley surrounded by lofty peaks, we explored up and down the stream. At a few points, we flushed small shorebirds, which eventually settled down and turned out to be another new species: the Banded Dotterel.
Male Banded Dotterel
The final new bird of the morning flitted in with two dotterels, though this one was tan and bobbed its tail about as it walked back and forth over the damp ground. Because of its flitting back and forth, I could not get a good look at it for a minute, but it finally stopped and I was looking at a New Zealand Pipit.
Without a way to cross to the broad delta, Dad and I headed back up to the Alpine Lodge with plans to search for Wrybill the next morning. We found Sarah and Mom in the lounge eating breakfast and talking with the Australian Sarah and her sister. They headed out on their morning hike, after which they were flying home, and we bid them farewell as we too left for our hikes, though not before a Kea came and landed on the porch outside the lounge.
The first hike we took was in the Tasman Valley, where we hiked to Lake Tasman and got views of the Tasman Glacier. The only birds on this hike were five or six Common Chaffinches flitting about in the brush. The mountains, however, were amazing. They were very similar to the mountains in the “Beacons of Gondor” scene from The Return of the King. As I found out later in the day, they actually were some of the mountains from that part of the film. Our second hike took us to a beautiful stream in the Hooker Valley, which required crossing two pretty swing bridges. Again, the only birds were a few Common Chaffinches, though this time there were also two Paradise Shelducks.
Aoraki Swing Bridge
We then returned to the lodge and had a late lunch, followed by a relaxing afternoon spent reading in the lounge, during which I finished The Return of the King, having only started the trilogy four days before. I also found Winter’s Heart, book nine of The Wheel of Time, in the bookshelf.
Four life birds, three of which weren’t expected, for the day, but I missed the Wrybill. Tomorrow morning, when we drive up to Arthur’s Pass, I’m going to hike back down there and try for the only bird in the world with its bill turned to the right or left.
66. Black-fronted Tern – 646
67. Black Stilt – 647
68. Banded Dotterel – 648
69. New Zealand Pipit – 649
Having woken up at 7:00AM, Dad and I drove south for twenty mintues to the place that the Department of Conservation woman had directed us to. While we were on the drive down, a single Black-fronted Tern flew over our car towards the river. Here, amongst a copse of willows, a small gravel track lead down towards the shingle riverbed. Dad parked the car, and we got out.
Instantly, two subadult Black Stilts flew over our heads and landed a few feet in front of us. Within a few seconds, they were joined by three more, all five of them only partially black. As Dad and I headed down the track, at least ten more subadults flew in to follow us. Apparently, the DOC people had been feeding them, and the stilts believed that we brought food. After a few minutes, I spotted two more stilts, this time all black, which did not fly over to us. These were two of the adults that had been in the area when the subadults were released. Over the course of the short hike, we saw seven pure black adults.
Black Stilt Adult
Over the river, I saw several more Black-fronted Terns wheeling back and forth, but Dad and I could not see a way to cross the deeper water where the small track ended. Here, in a valley surrounded by lofty peaks, we explored up and down the stream. At a few points, we flushed small shorebirds, which eventually settled down and turned out to be another new species: the Banded Dotterel.
Male Banded Dotterel
The final new bird of the morning flitted in with two dotterels, though this one was tan and bobbed its tail about as it walked back and forth over the damp ground. Because of its flitting back and forth, I could not get a good look at it for a minute, but it finally stopped and I was looking at a New Zealand Pipit.
Without a way to cross to the broad delta, Dad and I headed back up to the Alpine Lodge with plans to search for Wrybill the next morning. We found Sarah and Mom in the lounge eating breakfast and talking with the Australian Sarah and her sister. They headed out on their morning hike, after which they were flying home, and we bid them farewell as we too left for our hikes, though not before a Kea came and landed on the porch outside the lounge.
The first hike we took was in the Tasman Valley, where we hiked to Lake Tasman and got views of the Tasman Glacier. The only birds on this hike were five or six Common Chaffinches flitting about in the brush. The mountains, however, were amazing. They were very similar to the mountains in the “Beacons of Gondor” scene from The Return of the King. As I found out later in the day, they actually were some of the mountains from that part of the film. Our second hike took us to a beautiful stream in the Hooker Valley, which required crossing two pretty swing bridges. Again, the only birds were a few Common Chaffinches, though this time there were also two Paradise Shelducks.
Aoraki Swing Bridge
We then returned to the lodge and had a late lunch, followed by a relaxing afternoon spent reading in the lounge, during which I finished The Return of the King, having only started the trilogy four days before. I also found Winter’s Heart, book nine of The Wheel of Time, in the bookshelf.
Four life birds, three of which weren’t expected, for the day, but I missed the Wrybill. Tomorrow morning, when we drive up to Arthur’s Pass, I’m going to hike back down there and try for the only bird in the world with its bill turned to the right or left.
66. Black-fronted Tern – 646
67. Black Stilt – 647
68. Banded Dotterel – 648
69. New Zealand Pipit – 649
Friday, September 4, 2009
Day 9: Otago to Mount Cook
The first day without a life bird or a trip bird, mainly because we wanted to reach Mount Cook village while the sun was still on Aoraki, the Maori word for New Zealand’s highest peak, itself. The scenery and one other experience made up for the lack of avian life.
Our first stop was in Dunedin so that Mom and Sarah could go shopping and so we could get breakfast and food for the drive. Leaving the city, Dad realized we were low on gas, so we had to turn back and get gas before continuing onwards. The next stop was at the Moeraki boulders. These boulders are nearly perfectly spherical, making it look, as Mom’s guidebook said, “as though a group of giants had just finished playing croquet.” These stones are in some places broken open, revealing a geode-like interior; formed much like pearls in an oyster, the boulders of the Moeraki beaches came to be when the mudstone coving the ocean floor was wrapped about an object, layer upon layer, until the ball was released from the grips of the sea and rolled up by the waves onto the sandy shore.
Moeraki Boulders
We drove straight through Omaru, turned left up route 83, and followed the road all the way to route 8 at Omarama. This drive, on a clear winter day, is surrounded by the splendor of snow-capped mountains. At Twizel, we stopped so that I could get information about Black Stilts, the endemic denizens of Mackenzie Basin. I was in luck; the center there had just released forty-four subadults at the Tasman River delta, and a woman gave me directions to the spot. From there, she told me I could hike out on the shingle riverbed, and several pure adult black stilts had been sighted in the area. She also said that the Wrybill were returning from migration, an added bonus in my book.
Though we knew exactly where to go, the light was fading and Mom wanted to get to the village and take a hike while the golden rays of the sun were still shining on the snowy faces of Aoraki. Upon arriving at the Alpine Lodge, where we were to sped two nights, we unpacked our stuff into our room and headed off on the hike to Kea Point. Our room had a huge window facing towards Mount Cook, and we could see a bank of clouds slowly moving in from the south.
Fifteen minutes later, we had beaten the clouds and stood at Kea Point with Mount Cook rising in front of us in all its shining splendor. The point, however, was devoid of Kea, and the only birds I saw were a few Common Chaffinchs flitting about in the rocks. We hiked back down to the Alpine Lodge, where we went to the guest lounge to make dinner.
Mount Cook
This lounge is incredible. On one side is a kitchen, with three stove tops and a huge polished wood counter, while on the other are nine comfortable couches arranged rather haphazardly, with a gas stove sitting against one of the walls and another wall taken up entirely by an enormous window opening out onto a small deck. The view from both window and deck is of massive snowy mountains, with Aoraki dominating the scene. On the final side are three beautiful oak tables, two rectangular and the third in a perfect circle.
Aside from ourselves, the only other people in the lounge were a pair of Australian women, sisters we later found out. One of them was named Sarah, and just happened to share a birthday with our Sarah. The two sisters, Dad, Mom, and I discussed a myriad of topics over dinner, for which I had Raman, and then settled down into a long discussion about how exploitation of natural resources around the world without concern for the environment was putting the peoples of the First Nations, that is to say native peoples of all different countries, into poverty and destroying their traditional ways of life. The discussion lasted from around 8:00PM to 10:30PM.
I was going to wake up early the next morning to search for Black Stilts on the Tasman River delta with Dad, and needed sleep.
Our first stop was in Dunedin so that Mom and Sarah could go shopping and so we could get breakfast and food for the drive. Leaving the city, Dad realized we were low on gas, so we had to turn back and get gas before continuing onwards. The next stop was at the Moeraki boulders. These boulders are nearly perfectly spherical, making it look, as Mom’s guidebook said, “as though a group of giants had just finished playing croquet.” These stones are in some places broken open, revealing a geode-like interior; formed much like pearls in an oyster, the boulders of the Moeraki beaches came to be when the mudstone coving the ocean floor was wrapped about an object, layer upon layer, until the ball was released from the grips of the sea and rolled up by the waves onto the sandy shore.
Moeraki Boulders
We drove straight through Omaru, turned left up route 83, and followed the road all the way to route 8 at Omarama. This drive, on a clear winter day, is surrounded by the splendor of snow-capped mountains. At Twizel, we stopped so that I could get information about Black Stilts, the endemic denizens of Mackenzie Basin. I was in luck; the center there had just released forty-four subadults at the Tasman River delta, and a woman gave me directions to the spot. From there, she told me I could hike out on the shingle riverbed, and several pure adult black stilts had been sighted in the area. She also said that the Wrybill were returning from migration, an added bonus in my book.
Though we knew exactly where to go, the light was fading and Mom wanted to get to the village and take a hike while the golden rays of the sun were still shining on the snowy faces of Aoraki. Upon arriving at the Alpine Lodge, where we were to sped two nights, we unpacked our stuff into our room and headed off on the hike to Kea Point. Our room had a huge window facing towards Mount Cook, and we could see a bank of clouds slowly moving in from the south.
Fifteen minutes later, we had beaten the clouds and stood at Kea Point with Mount Cook rising in front of us in all its shining splendor. The point, however, was devoid of Kea, and the only birds I saw were a few Common Chaffinchs flitting about in the rocks. We hiked back down to the Alpine Lodge, where we went to the guest lounge to make dinner.
Mount Cook
This lounge is incredible. On one side is a kitchen, with three stove tops and a huge polished wood counter, while on the other are nine comfortable couches arranged rather haphazardly, with a gas stove sitting against one of the walls and another wall taken up entirely by an enormous window opening out onto a small deck. The view from both window and deck is of massive snowy mountains, with Aoraki dominating the scene. On the final side are three beautiful oak tables, two rectangular and the third in a perfect circle.
Aside from ourselves, the only other people in the lounge were a pair of Australian women, sisters we later found out. One of them was named Sarah, and just happened to share a birthday with our Sarah. The two sisters, Dad, Mom, and I discussed a myriad of topics over dinner, for which I had Raman, and then settled down into a long discussion about how exploitation of natural resources around the world without concern for the environment was putting the peoples of the First Nations, that is to say native peoples of all different countries, into poverty and destroying their traditional ways of life. The discussion lasted from around 8:00PM to 10:30PM.
I was going to wake up early the next morning to search for Black Stilts on the Tasman River delta with Dad, and needed sleep.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Day 8: Otago Peninsula
At the Royal Albatross Center today, I had a talk with a man there named Leon, who took a look at my pictures and told me that some birds were White-capped Albatrosses and some were Salvin’s Albatrosses. Apparently these solitary creatures gather together where food is, and these flocks are almost always mixed. So, my Albatross sp. mark is revised into two, though I am going to put some of the pictures up on the birdforum ID thread to see what people think.
61. White-capped Albatross – 641
62. Salvin’s Albatross – 642
The day started a little late, so we got to the Royal Albatross Center, where we had the 1:00 tour booked, at around 9:30 in the morning. There, I had the aforementioned talk with Leon and a talk with a woman at the reception desk about where to see Stewart Island Shags. She told me that the tour we were going to be on would allow us to look down into the colony, which was good news. We headed down to nearby Pilot Beach for a quick look around, and, as we reached it, I saw a huge albatross disappear around behind the head. But since I saw it for only a second and saw no distinguishing features, I still did not count it, even though I’m sure it was a Northern Royal Albatross. I knew I would get more later in the day.
We then drove back from Taiaroa Head to the parking lot for the Victory Beach/Pyramids hike. This hike took us to The Pyramids, a sacred Maori place that gave a wonderful view of the surrounding area. We the hiked back through sheep fields to the car and drove back up to the Royal Albatross Center.
Pulling into the center, I looked up to see a huge Northern Royal Albatross fly right in front of the car. Even before the tour, I had already seen two more of these majestic giants glide by. While Sarah and I were killing time before the tour by walking around outside the center, a single pied phase Stewart Island Shag flew by with its distinctive white wing patches flashing. Our tour had fifteen people on it, and we spent the entire time in a blind overlooking three large Northern Royal Albatross chicks, though no adult materialized, and the Stewart Island Shag colony, where there were many individuals of both the pied and bronze phase.
Northern Royal Albatross chick
With more time to kill before our 3:45 Penguins Place tour, we took a quick drive down to another beach which could only be accessed by walking through a farmer’s field. Down on this beach there were two Common Chaffinches and a single European Goldfinch. Pressed for time, we drove back up to Penguin Place for our tour. On this tour, we took a five minute bus ride from the center over to the beach where the rarest penguins come up to land. There are four thousand birds remaining, and only nine hundred breed on the New Zealand mainland. Of these nine hundred, seventy individuals use this single beach on the Otago Peninsula. Our tour guide just happened to be Glenn, the same guy that Rob, first mate on our Mitre Peak boat, told me to say hello to.
We saw one Yellow-eyed Penguin, Pete, from the track above the beach. He was lying on his belly in the grass, though we later saw him standing. From another point on the trak, we saw one waddle out of the water about halfway down the beach, and then another came ashore directly below us. The entire tour moved into a blind, where, before long, the same penguin moved into view heading up the hill. Those of us with a good zoom on our cameras moved up above the blind to get good shots of the bird tramping up the hill. After he or she had passed right in front of the blind and disappeared into the brush, we moved on. There were several Little Penguin nest boxes, many of which were occupied. We got another look at Pete from above and then passed another individual, our fourth, on the way to the next blind. From here, we got views of Pete standing up and preening himself, and then the tour ended and we had to take the bus back.
Yellow-eyed Penguin
Pete
Little Penguin pair in nest box
The four of us, along with a few other people from the Penguin Place tour, drove over to Pilot Beach in hopes of seeing some of the Little Penguins of Taiaroa head coming ashore. They never appeared, so we drove back to The Homestead and had dinner. Tomorrow, we leave for Mount Cook.
63. Northern Royal Albatross – 643
64. Stewart Island Shag – 644
65. Yellow-eyed Penguin – 645
61. White-capped Albatross – 641
62. Salvin’s Albatross – 642
The day started a little late, so we got to the Royal Albatross Center, where we had the 1:00 tour booked, at around 9:30 in the morning. There, I had the aforementioned talk with Leon and a talk with a woman at the reception desk about where to see Stewart Island Shags. She told me that the tour we were going to be on would allow us to look down into the colony, which was good news. We headed down to nearby Pilot Beach for a quick look around, and, as we reached it, I saw a huge albatross disappear around behind the head. But since I saw it for only a second and saw no distinguishing features, I still did not count it, even though I’m sure it was a Northern Royal Albatross. I knew I would get more later in the day.
We then drove back from Taiaroa Head to the parking lot for the Victory Beach/Pyramids hike. This hike took us to The Pyramids, a sacred Maori place that gave a wonderful view of the surrounding area. We the hiked back through sheep fields to the car and drove back up to the Royal Albatross Center.
Pulling into the center, I looked up to see a huge Northern Royal Albatross fly right in front of the car. Even before the tour, I had already seen two more of these majestic giants glide by. While Sarah and I were killing time before the tour by walking around outside the center, a single pied phase Stewart Island Shag flew by with its distinctive white wing patches flashing. Our tour had fifteen people on it, and we spent the entire time in a blind overlooking three large Northern Royal Albatross chicks, though no adult materialized, and the Stewart Island Shag colony, where there were many individuals of both the pied and bronze phase.
Northern Royal Albatross chick
With more time to kill before our 3:45 Penguins Place tour, we took a quick drive down to another beach which could only be accessed by walking through a farmer’s field. Down on this beach there were two Common Chaffinches and a single European Goldfinch. Pressed for time, we drove back up to Penguin Place for our tour. On this tour, we took a five minute bus ride from the center over to the beach where the rarest penguins come up to land. There are four thousand birds remaining, and only nine hundred breed on the New Zealand mainland. Of these nine hundred, seventy individuals use this single beach on the Otago Peninsula. Our tour guide just happened to be Glenn, the same guy that Rob, first mate on our Mitre Peak boat, told me to say hello to.
We saw one Yellow-eyed Penguin, Pete, from the track above the beach. He was lying on his belly in the grass, though we later saw him standing. From another point on the trak, we saw one waddle out of the water about halfway down the beach, and then another came ashore directly below us. The entire tour moved into a blind, where, before long, the same penguin moved into view heading up the hill. Those of us with a good zoom on our cameras moved up above the blind to get good shots of the bird tramping up the hill. After he or she had passed right in front of the blind and disappeared into the brush, we moved on. There were several Little Penguin nest boxes, many of which were occupied. We got another look at Pete from above and then passed another individual, our fourth, on the way to the next blind. From here, we got views of Pete standing up and preening himself, and then the tour ended and we had to take the bus back.
Yellow-eyed Penguin
Pete
Little Penguin pair in nest box
The four of us, along with a few other people from the Penguin Place tour, drove over to Pilot Beach in hopes of seeing some of the Little Penguins of Taiaroa head coming ashore. They never appeared, so we drove back to The Homestead and had dinner. Tomorrow, we leave for Mount Cook.
63. Northern Royal Albatross – 643
64. Stewart Island Shag – 644
65. Yellow-eyed Penguin – 645
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Day 7: Te Anau to Dunedin
Another day of driving, and another day of few birds.The day started in Te Anau and ended in Dunedin, but the first drive that has not contained near-continuous, jaw-dropping scenery. I got but one life bird, and I’m not even sure what it was beyond an albatross and not a Royal Albatross, northern or southern.
In the morning, we headed east out of Te Anau, passing through kilometers of uninterrupted farmland with the only birds appearing in large numbers being Australasian Harriers, Spur-winged Plovers, Paradise Shelducks, and Australasian Magpies. Just west of Gore, there was a turn of for the town of Bush, and then forty-four kilometers beyond Gore was Clinton. Mom checked her maps and it turns out that the road from Gore to Clinton was called the “Presidential Highway.”
The rest of the road to Balclutha, where the turn-off for Nugget Point is, was rolling farmland, though there was one exciting event for me: the return of Purple Swamphens to the wet fields. At Balclutha, we turned south on the road to Kaka Point, partway between Balclutha and Nugget Point. Here, I picked up my first Red-billed Gulls, Variable Oystercatchers, and Little Pied Shags for Otago.
We reached Nugget Point after about half an hour, parked the car, and trekked out to the point. Partway through the hike, I looked down to the cliffs below and found large quantities of Spotted Shags flying about, another new Otago species. Mom and Sarah had gotten pretty far ahead by this time, so Dad and I rushed to catch up to them. The four of us made it out to the head, upon which there is a pretty white lighthouse. Looking down from the deck around it, I saw Spotted Shags, Red-billed Gulls, Kelp Gulls, White-fronted Terns, and New Zealand Fur Seals. We took some pictures of the rugged yet beautiful coastline near the head and then started back in.
On our way back, I stopped to check a flock of distant gulls for albatrosses, and Dad stopped with me. As Mom and Sarah continued down the trail, I brought my binoculars up and focused on the distant group. One of the white birds took off on huge, long wings. It was not a flock of gulls, these were albatrosses. My first ever albatrosses. They were about a quarter mile distant, too far for me to reliably identify, and the flock was about thirty or so birds, very large for animals that are usually seen in ones or twos. Hoping to be able to identify them later on, I snapped twelve pictures of them with my camera, at up to eighty times magnification.
Albatrosses
Dad and I caught up with Mom and Sarah just before the car, then we drove north, through Balclutha, to Dunedin. In Dunedin, we toured the Cadbury factory, which was a lot of fun, and we actually got to see it while work was being done. From Dunedin, we drove out to our place, “The Homestead,” halfway out on the Otago Peninsula. I downloaded the albatross pictures onto the computer, studied them for forty minutes, and came to the conclusion that they were either White-capped Albatrosses or Salvin’s Albatrosses.
61. Albatross sp. (White-capped/Salvin’s) – 641
In the morning, we headed east out of Te Anau, passing through kilometers of uninterrupted farmland with the only birds appearing in large numbers being Australasian Harriers, Spur-winged Plovers, Paradise Shelducks, and Australasian Magpies. Just west of Gore, there was a turn of for the town of Bush, and then forty-four kilometers beyond Gore was Clinton. Mom checked her maps and it turns out that the road from Gore to Clinton was called the “Presidential Highway.”
The rest of the road to Balclutha, where the turn-off for Nugget Point is, was rolling farmland, though there was one exciting event for me: the return of Purple Swamphens to the wet fields. At Balclutha, we turned south on the road to Kaka Point, partway between Balclutha and Nugget Point. Here, I picked up my first Red-billed Gulls, Variable Oystercatchers, and Little Pied Shags for Otago.
We reached Nugget Point after about half an hour, parked the car, and trekked out to the point. Partway through the hike, I looked down to the cliffs below and found large quantities of Spotted Shags flying about, another new Otago species. Mom and Sarah had gotten pretty far ahead by this time, so Dad and I rushed to catch up to them. The four of us made it out to the head, upon which there is a pretty white lighthouse. Looking down from the deck around it, I saw Spotted Shags, Red-billed Gulls, Kelp Gulls, White-fronted Terns, and New Zealand Fur Seals. We took some pictures of the rugged yet beautiful coastline near the head and then started back in.
On our way back, I stopped to check a flock of distant gulls for albatrosses, and Dad stopped with me. As Mom and Sarah continued down the trail, I brought my binoculars up and focused on the distant group. One of the white birds took off on huge, long wings. It was not a flock of gulls, these were albatrosses. My first ever albatrosses. They were about a quarter mile distant, too far for me to reliably identify, and the flock was about thirty or so birds, very large for animals that are usually seen in ones or twos. Hoping to be able to identify them later on, I snapped twelve pictures of them with my camera, at up to eighty times magnification.
Albatrosses
Dad and I caught up with Mom and Sarah just before the car, then we drove north, through Balclutha, to Dunedin. In Dunedin, we toured the Cadbury factory, which was a lot of fun, and we actually got to see it while work was being done. From Dunedin, we drove out to our place, “The Homestead,” halfway out on the Otago Peninsula. I downloaded the albatross pictures onto the computer, studied them for forty minutes, and came to the conclusion that they were either White-capped Albatrosses or Salvin’s Albatrosses.
61. Albatross sp. (White-capped/Salvin’s) – 641
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Day 6: Milford Road and Milford Sound
Wow, the Milford Road is amazing. We got up, ate breakfast, and drove the Milford Road over to Milford Sound, where we had reservations for the 12:20 Mitre Peak Cruises cruise.
We started out heading through agricultural lands on the eastern bank of Lake Te Anau, New Zealand’s second largest lake. With the snow-covered mountains rising in front of us, Dad stopped the car for Sarah and myself to be able to take some pictures. As I got out of the car, a Eurasian Skylark started trilling its liquid melody from high above on the breeze. I looked up and saw its little body suspended by whirring wings in the same exact position I had seen before in British Columbia and Europe.
Our next stop was at the Mirror Lakes, where even the sign is printed upside down so that the reflection reads correctly. These lakes reflect amazing views of the snow-capped peaks on the far side of the Eglinton Valley, and hold New Zealand Scaup and Mallards. In the trees around the lakes, I saw several Common Chaffinches and three individuals of a New Zealand’s smallest bird: the adorable little yellow-green Rifleman. After many more photos of the reflections and mountains in and around the Mirror Lakes, we drove onwards.
Mirror Lakes
Amongst majestic, snow-covered mountains, we stopped at Monkey Creek to look for Blue Ducks in vain. While we were stopped here, however, two curious Kea decided to fly down, and one actually landed atop our car and started pecking at the rubber. We got into our car while a bus was pulling up, put on our seat belts, turned around, and found twenty tourists taking pictures of our car with the Kea still on it. A few seconds later, the bird flew down and the tourists’ attention shifted so we were able to make good our escape. The drive lasted thirty more glorious minutes full of huge mountains and pure white snow.
We got to Milford Sound with time to spare, so we ate a quick lunch in the car before heading over to the boarding area. On the way to the boats, I took a quick look at the mud flats near the parking lot, and, among the Mallards and Gray Ducks, there was a single Eastern Great Egret! I snapped a quick picture of it, even though they look the same as our Western Great Egrets, and continued on to the building.
Twenty minutes and two Great Cormorants later, the boat opened up for boarding. This boat was really cool in that most of the surface of the main cabin was made up of glass windows. We grabbed a table and dropped our stuff off, then I headed out to the bow of the boat while Dad went up above and Mom and Sarah stayed at the table. After we had gotten underway, I went up into the wheelhouse to ask the captain about the possibility of seeing Fiordland Crested Penguins, dolphins, and seals. He responded that there had been a pod of dolphins on his earlier trip, the seals were always up on the rocks, and four penguins had been visible that morning. All in all a pretty favorable report.
We first cruised close by a few huge waterfalls and then stopped to photograph a pair of Kelp Gulls sitting on a nest on the cliffs. When we pulled away from the next waterfall, the boat headed out into the middle of the fiord. Unbeknownst to the passengers, the captain had spotted the pod of Southern Bottlenose Dolphins frolicking out in the fiord. Soon we had driven among them and two took up a position right off the front of the bow. This enabled me to take several good pictures of the dolphin on my side as the boat sped along. Soon, however, the dolphins fell behind and we pulled back to the south side of the steep fiord.
As the boat slid along, I kept scanning the few rocky beaches we passed for penguins, though all I got for my troubles were seven Kelp Gulls. On the fourth beach, however, Dad looked back and spotted a single Fiordland Crested Penguin underneath a boulder. The captain pulled close enough to allow for some good pictures, and a second one was spotted pretty close to the first. As we continued along the south shore, two more were seen, though all but the first had their backs to us.
First Fiordland Crested Penguin
Third Fiordland Crested Penguin
The trip went all the way out to the Tasman Sea, which stretches from New Zealand to Australia, and then it turned back and followed the north shore of the fiord that is Milford Sound. On the way back, we saw fifteen or so New Zealand Fur Seals, a few Kelp Gulls, one Great Cormorant, the same pod of Southern Bottlenose Dolphins, and lots of pretty waterfalls.
When we got back to shore, we drove all the way back to Te Anau, with the only bird life being one Kea on a snowbank west of the Homer Tunnel, one on a snowbank east of the tunnel, and four flying alongside our car for a few moments up above Eglinton Valley.
Upon arriving back in Te Anau, we drove straight to the Wildlife Center, where I got to see many captive birds including three Takahe, three Kaka, two Antipode Parakeets, four Red-fronted Parakeets, and two Canada Geese. There were also some wild New Zealand Pigeons, Tui, European Goldfinches, and Common Chaffinches. We drove back to out little cottage, had dinner, and then decided to drive over to Dunedin tomorrow, with a two tours reserved for the day after: the Northern Roayl Albatross colony and the Yellow-eyed Penguin colony. Not sure what the drive tomorrow might bring though.
57. Eurasian Skylark
58. Rifleman – 638
59. Eastern Great Egret – 639
60. Fiordland Crested Penguin – 640
We started out heading through agricultural lands on the eastern bank of Lake Te Anau, New Zealand’s second largest lake. With the snow-covered mountains rising in front of us, Dad stopped the car for Sarah and myself to be able to take some pictures. As I got out of the car, a Eurasian Skylark started trilling its liquid melody from high above on the breeze. I looked up and saw its little body suspended by whirring wings in the same exact position I had seen before in British Columbia and Europe.
Our next stop was at the Mirror Lakes, where even the sign is printed upside down so that the reflection reads correctly. These lakes reflect amazing views of the snow-capped peaks on the far side of the Eglinton Valley, and hold New Zealand Scaup and Mallards. In the trees around the lakes, I saw several Common Chaffinches and three individuals of a New Zealand’s smallest bird: the adorable little yellow-green Rifleman. After many more photos of the reflections and mountains in and around the Mirror Lakes, we drove onwards.
Mirror Lakes
Amongst majestic, snow-covered mountains, we stopped at Monkey Creek to look for Blue Ducks in vain. While we were stopped here, however, two curious Kea decided to fly down, and one actually landed atop our car and started pecking at the rubber. We got into our car while a bus was pulling up, put on our seat belts, turned around, and found twenty tourists taking pictures of our car with the Kea still on it. A few seconds later, the bird flew down and the tourists’ attention shifted so we were able to make good our escape. The drive lasted thirty more glorious minutes full of huge mountains and pure white snow.
We got to Milford Sound with time to spare, so we ate a quick lunch in the car before heading over to the boarding area. On the way to the boats, I took a quick look at the mud flats near the parking lot, and, among the Mallards and Gray Ducks, there was a single Eastern Great Egret! I snapped a quick picture of it, even though they look the same as our Western Great Egrets, and continued on to the building.
Twenty minutes and two Great Cormorants later, the boat opened up for boarding. This boat was really cool in that most of the surface of the main cabin was made up of glass windows. We grabbed a table and dropped our stuff off, then I headed out to the bow of the boat while Dad went up above and Mom and Sarah stayed at the table. After we had gotten underway, I went up into the wheelhouse to ask the captain about the possibility of seeing Fiordland Crested Penguins, dolphins, and seals. He responded that there had been a pod of dolphins on his earlier trip, the seals were always up on the rocks, and four penguins had been visible that morning. All in all a pretty favorable report.
We first cruised close by a few huge waterfalls and then stopped to photograph a pair of Kelp Gulls sitting on a nest on the cliffs. When we pulled away from the next waterfall, the boat headed out into the middle of the fiord. Unbeknownst to the passengers, the captain had spotted the pod of Southern Bottlenose Dolphins frolicking out in the fiord. Soon we had driven among them and two took up a position right off the front of the bow. This enabled me to take several good pictures of the dolphin on my side as the boat sped along. Soon, however, the dolphins fell behind and we pulled back to the south side of the steep fiord.
As the boat slid along, I kept scanning the few rocky beaches we passed for penguins, though all I got for my troubles were seven Kelp Gulls. On the fourth beach, however, Dad looked back and spotted a single Fiordland Crested Penguin underneath a boulder. The captain pulled close enough to allow for some good pictures, and a second one was spotted pretty close to the first. As we continued along the south shore, two more were seen, though all but the first had their backs to us.
First Fiordland Crested Penguin
Third Fiordland Crested Penguin
The trip went all the way out to the Tasman Sea, which stretches from New Zealand to Australia, and then it turned back and followed the north shore of the fiord that is Milford Sound. On the way back, we saw fifteen or so New Zealand Fur Seals, a few Kelp Gulls, one Great Cormorant, the same pod of Southern Bottlenose Dolphins, and lots of pretty waterfalls.
When we got back to shore, we drove all the way back to Te Anau, with the only bird life being one Kea on a snowbank west of the Homer Tunnel, one on a snowbank east of the tunnel, and four flying alongside our car for a few moments up above Eglinton Valley.
Upon arriving back in Te Anau, we drove straight to the Wildlife Center, where I got to see many captive birds including three Takahe, three Kaka, two Antipode Parakeets, four Red-fronted Parakeets, and two Canada Geese. There were also some wild New Zealand Pigeons, Tui, European Goldfinches, and Common Chaffinches. We drove back to out little cottage, had dinner, and then decided to drive over to Dunedin tomorrow, with a two tours reserved for the day after: the Northern Roayl Albatross colony and the Yellow-eyed Penguin colony. Not sure what the drive tomorrow might bring though.
57. Eurasian Skylark
58. Rifleman – 638
59. Eastern Great Egret – 639
60. Fiordland Crested Penguin – 640
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