Chlidonias
Well-known member
2 November
I thought it was time for me to finally get round to seeing a Fiordland crested penguin. I was supposed to be heading down to Milford Sound a few weeks ago on a tourism famil (everything for free!!) but the Milford Road was blocked by a massive avalanche and so I postponed my involvement. It meant I had to pay for various (most) parts of the trip myself, but at least the bus between Queenstown and Milford and the boat trip on the Sound were free.
The road had been cleared but work was still in progress on removing all the debris on either side and so the Homer Tunnel was being closed early (3pm) on the day I was travelling, which meant the boat trip got cut rather shorter than normal. Also it was pouring down, because its Fiordland. I really didn't think I was going to end up seeing a penguin but literally five minutes before getting back to the wharf I spotted one on the shore. It wasn't announced by the crew so I guess none of them saw it, and I was the only person on board with binoculars anyway (and also pretty much the only mug out on deck in the rain). It wasn't a really close view and it wasn't for long, but I saw it well enough before it hopped off into the bush.
Some of the other birds I'd been hoping for the year list didn't eventuate. No falcons showed anywhere; the "intermediate egret" living at the wharf has been deemed by the OSNZ to actually be a white heron [great white egret] and I didn't see it anyway; the rock wren site by the Homer Tunnel is unusable at the present due to avalanches; and back in Christchurch on the way through to Hokitika, the cirl buntings at Victoria Park refused to show as well.
Nevertheless, I now lay claim to four penguins on my life list (emperor, little blue [and white-flippered], yellow-eyed, and Fiordland crested).
98) Fiordland crested penguin Eudyptes pachyrhynchus
I thought it was time for me to finally get round to seeing a Fiordland crested penguin. I was supposed to be heading down to Milford Sound a few weeks ago on a tourism famil (everything for free!!) but the Milford Road was blocked by a massive avalanche and so I postponed my involvement. It meant I had to pay for various (most) parts of the trip myself, but at least the bus between Queenstown and Milford and the boat trip on the Sound were free.
The road had been cleared but work was still in progress on removing all the debris on either side and so the Homer Tunnel was being closed early (3pm) on the day I was travelling, which meant the boat trip got cut rather shorter than normal. Also it was pouring down, because its Fiordland. I really didn't think I was going to end up seeing a penguin but literally five minutes before getting back to the wharf I spotted one on the shore. It wasn't announced by the crew so I guess none of them saw it, and I was the only person on board with binoculars anyway (and also pretty much the only mug out on deck in the rain). It wasn't a really close view and it wasn't for long, but I saw it well enough before it hopped off into the bush.
Some of the other birds I'd been hoping for the year list didn't eventuate. No falcons showed anywhere; the "intermediate egret" living at the wharf has been deemed by the OSNZ to actually be a white heron [great white egret] and I didn't see it anyway; the rock wren site by the Homer Tunnel is unusable at the present due to avalanches; and back in Christchurch on the way through to Hokitika, the cirl buntings at Victoria Park refused to show as well.
Nevertheless, I now lay claim to four penguins on my life list (emperor, little blue [and white-flippered], yellow-eyed, and Fiordland crested).
98) Fiordland crested penguin Eudyptes pachyrhynchus
