New Zealand Bird Guide, and the padded numbers!

We have reached the upper half, of the North Island, New Zealand, and I have to admit, I am a bit surprised at, well, the complete lack of shorebirds that I have seen so far. In my early preparations for this long trip, I gathered every guide that I get my hands on, and as many of those in an electronic version as I could. The one book that I found most helpful for New Zealand, list 374 bird species that can be found here. Listed in this guide, are 66 birds that I would consider in the shorebird listing. Plovers, Sandpipers, Stilts, Oystercatchers, Godwits, and Snipe are the birds that I would put in this grouping. Of that group of 66, a person, really only has any real chance of seeing 9. Now, please consider the fact that many of these species are restricted to a group of islands, many miles off the New Zealand coast, Snares, Chatham, Auckland, Kermadec, and Campbell Island all fall into this category. They all have species that have been split out and given the Island name that they live on, and so, are rightfully listed in this guide. The Chatham Islands Oystercatcher, Shag, and Snipe, The Kermadec Storm Petrel, The Snares Snipe are a few birds that have been given “Island” names. Many fall under the “rare or Uncommon Arctic Migrant” listing, birds that have been seen here at some point. I really don’t want anyone to get the idea that I don’t like this field guide, I really do. It has been very helpful, but I feel it has exaggerated the number you can expect to find here. I am sure listing the Bristle-thighed Curlew seemed important to the authors, but given that it has been seen three total times in the history of New Zealand, and even then, only on a very remote island (The Kermadecs) hundreds of miles north of the North Island, just seems like a bit of a push to fill the pages of the guide. The Upland Sand pipers, has been seen a total of once, ever. Same with the red-kneed Dotterel, once in 1976. Semipalmated Plover, three times, the Pacific Gull, a total of one sighting. Franklins Gull 4 times, the Wilson’s Phalarope three times, you get my point. Now, I have to take full blame for reading a book, and not catching that part. It is clearly printed in the text, but I guess the scope of this just has me a bit, well, bothered. New Zealanders reading this, I Love your country, and have had an amazing time exploring and will be back, I just won’t come looking for 300 birds!

Brown Teal, "The Movie"

As many of you might know, todays modern high end cameras are really just small computers that take pictures. Much like my own brain, I honestly don’t use more than about 5% of its capability. One feature it does have that I am trying to learn, is to use it to make videos. While we were at the family property, I practice with the Brown Teal, and after a few, less than great results, got a couple that were OK. Here is one to take a look at.

The rare Brown Teal

Several years ago, when the Shaw Family still owned the entire large parcel of land there in Rockell Bay, New Zealand, they made some major improvements, along with the cooperation of the Depart on Conservation, to the water way the ran thru the property. This was mostly to provide a better habitat for the rare and very endangered Brown Teal. Now, years later, it has proven to be a huge success, with 14 of these small ducks in the pond the day I arrived. I have sent several days photographing them, and here are a couple of my favorites.

 

 

New Zealand Pipit

As we have traveled around some of the higher elevation farms and open country ridges, one bird that has turned out to be quite common, is the New Zealand Pipit. This friendly, curious bird, has been at the high ridge above the family property, at the mountain top outside of Christchurch, and even on the walk to the very northern most point, Cap Reinga. Here are a few of the pics I have gotten along the way.

 

 

 

 

Here is the rarest bird photo of all....Jeanne taking a bird photo!!   He he he , and the conversion to birder has begun!  I can't wait until she starts picking out her own Camo clothing!!

 

 

More Pipits!!

 

BloKarts on the Beach!

Our stop in Waipapakuri was mostly planned, due to location as it was in close proximity to several fresh water lakes where the New Zealand Dabchick had been reported. It turned out to host a huge surprise, one that has nothing to do with birds. BloKarts, little sailboats on wheels, racing up and down the beaches! A large group of BloKarters from all over New Zealand, meet twice a year here, on the south end of what is called 90 miles, for exactly what it is, a very long, flat sandy beach. I could tell right off, this was something I had to see, and photograph. A second night was paid for, and we went off in search of a way to get the RV down close enough to where they were racing on the beach. The entire length of the beach can be driven on, and is even considered a road way by the NZ Department of Transportation. But, we are not allowed to drive our Rental RV on the beach, and they were racing nearly 5 kilometers from the RV park. There are several side roads all getting to the beach from the major road way, but they are all part of a private forest and are closed to public access. By accident, we managed to drive right past the main office for Summit Forest Products, and so we stopped to see if there was any way to get down there. Ricky, who was working on the office was incredible help, not only getting us a map, and allowing us to use one of the roads, but gave me a heads up for where to find that long sought after New Zealand Dabchick. After a full day of organized racing, the group invited us to join them for their awards dinner that night at the RV Park. I gotta tell, this is one fun loving bunch of folks! They made us feel very welcome, fed us dinner and even gave us a bottle of wine to boot! So, to any of you BloKarters who read this, cheers to you, here are a few of your racing pics!

 

 

 

The last race of the day, is a long one, running several kilometers down the beach and back....here they are, on their way back!

 

Gannets of Murawai

At the end of last week, we made an overnight stop in Murawai at the RV park near the beach. Jeanne’s dad, Gordon had been talking about the Australian Gannet colony there over and over, so, we made the stop. Now, I am very aware that this is the wrong time of year, but he insists on stopping here to show me the thousands of Gannets and their young. We arrived in the late afternoon, so I made the walk down to the beach, and walked up to the cliff that is where the nesting sites are located. I had very low expectations, but, there were a couple of Gannets flying about. So, the next thing bright and early I was at the top of the cliffs, looking down on 8 immature Gannets, and about 15 Adults. The adult birds were flying out to feed, and then returning to “off load” the fish to their youngsters. At the peak of breeding/nesting season, this area does indeed host over 1000 nesting pairs and their young. The nest sites remain year round and can be seen in the photos below.

Here is a shot of what the nest area looks like.

....and Mom, dropping off breakfast!

Bird #101!

And just like that,  I find my one hundred and first bird, a New Zealand Dabchick. For those of you in the US, and other parts of the world, the Dabchick is also known as a Grebe. I had been hitting a lot of the small fresh water lakes in the northern half of the North Island, before getting a tip from Ricky, at Summit Forest Products. It seems there are a few lakes that are not really published on any map, but are open for visiting. Since they are not really “out there” for the public to know about, the birds gather there with a little less harassment by visiting people. Sure enough, there were 6 New Zealand Dabchicks there, with 5 adult birds and one very young bird, still being fed by its parents. The birds stayed out in the middle of the lake, so the photos kinda suck, but a Dabchick it is!!

Here is a shot of the juvenile!

 

The White-fronted Terns of New Zealand

Without much question, the most common Tern on any of the New Zealand islands is the White-fronted Terns. This is a small bird, similar in size to our Foresters Tern, with a slim black bill, white breast, and light gray back and wings. I saw my first one, in Christchurch, and have pretty much seen them at almost every salt water bay, or rocky point I have visited. We crossed on a small car ferry today, and got to watch several of the preening, and then take off and go fishing. I never did get a photo with any of them with a fish, Well, one that is not very good, but I did get some nice shots. We also saw quite a few while we were on 90 Mile Beach, on the north west part of the North Island.

 

 

This photo below shows an adult tern on the right, with a juvenile bird on the left. The young bird still has some of its darker plumage.

And, so here is the not so good shot with a fish....

 

Update on the Oystercatchers

I had done a short posting a few weeks back, about the Oystercatchers here in New Zealand. With out traveling several hundred miles to some distant islands, there are there are two species of Oystercatcher. The South Island, and the Variable. The catch here is the color variations, per the name of the Variable Oystercatcher. There is the all black, the Pied version, that is black and white that is similar to the South Island Oystercatcher, and then there is the Intermediate phase.

We will start with the South Island Oystercatcher, as there is only one of them, and it is with out the most common. As you can see the white from the breast and belly extends well up above the front of the wings.

With the Pied Phase of the Variable Oystercatcher, it virtually ends with the front of the wind. The line from black to white is a little less defined as well.

The Black Phase of the Variable Oystercatcher is just that, all black.

Where the fun comes in (Well at least for me) is finding what is called an Intermediate Phase Variable Oystercatcher. Now you have  a mottled black and white breast and belly area. Here is a pictures of this phase that I have found, along side a South Island Oystercatcher.

The New Zealand Century mark

So, when I began my planning for this long birding trip, everybody asked me if I had a goal, a number of species that I hoped to find. To be very truthful, I have a number, but it is really a bit of pipe dream, so I have kept that to myself. I can tell you that I had hoped for 100 species for the country of New Zealand. Thursday afternoon, at about 11:00 AM, New Zealand time, I got my 100^th species! It turned out to not be a rare endemic, or a bird that I had worked hard for in order to find. I in fact found the 100^th species, just outside the “Long Drop” in a park when you can visit the historic 1816 Stone House Store. For those of you from anywhere other than New Zealand, the long drop is a loo….a head…ok, I will make it easy, a outhouse, or bathroom. I had just finished my business, washed my hands, and dried them on my shirt, as there were no towels, and walking out the door, spotted a Barbary Dove just sitting there waiting for me. This is an introduced bird, but none the less, it makes species number 100. Here are a couple photos of bird #100

 

 

Royal Spoonbill

In several of my trips over to the Mexico mainland, I had hoped to be able to photograph the Roseate Spoonbill. It just never worked out. Over here in New Zealand, there are Royal Spoonbills and they are at least, a small amount more cooperative with regard to getting their photo taken. I found this bird just north of Wellington.

 

 

Australian Magpies

Right off the bat, I have thought the Australian Magpies were just very cool looking. Stark black and white, they stand out, where every you find them, but are very wary, and hard to really get a good photo of.  The most interesting think I think about them is their early morning call. It is hard to describe, but it certainly does not sound like anything made by a living creature. Maybe a an electric organ, possessed by a demon of some kind? No matter what, is sounds like, it is very interesting the first few days, but then, it really starts to get old. Here are a few of the pictures I have managed to get.

I ran across this juvenile Magpie, that really has gotten off to a bad start. As you might be able to see, it has a deformed right foot, and what you can't see is that it is also missing an eye. It was still out feeding, and despite all of that, doing pretty well, all things considered.

Myna Birds in New Zealand

Much like the House Sparrows and Starlings in the US, in New Zealand there is a very large population of the introduced Mynas. While this bird is not unattractive, they seem to have adapted to both country living as well as in most major cities, especially on the north island and are competing for the resources of the native birds. Here are a couple pictures of the New Zealand Myna.

I caught this photo right after it caught a Praying Mantis for a snack!

The birds living in the city tend to look like they have been in street fights...and lost!!

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Fantails

Well, we have been here almost 5 weeks now, and day in and day out, my favorite New Zealand bird has become the New Zealand Fantail. They are such a beautiful bird, very inquisitive, and just plain fun to photograph. For what ever reason, they seem to be attracted to Jeanne, as no matter where we hike, they will fly right out to her, and sometime even come very close to landing on her.