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
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