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