RFI: Birding around Queenstown (1 Viewer)

ianreid · Sep 7, 2010

Hi All,

I will be at a conference in Queenstown in early November and will have a bit of time for some birding. In particular I should have a clear day before the conf when I'm prepared to hire a car and drive for a few of hours if necessary.

I know that Black Stilt could be gettable in a day trip to Twizel but I plan on heading that way after the conference en route to Kaikoura.

I don't see the Queenstown area mentioned much here, and it's not on the main bird tour itineraries. What NZ specialties might I find not too far (ie within an hour) of Queenstown? Any Kea or Rock Wren sites nearby or would I need to drive to Homer Tunnel (3.5 hours according to Google Maps).

All advice greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Ian

mjh73 · Sep 11, 2010

We spent a good half day at Lake Sylvan in April. Can't remember exactly how long it took us to get from Queenstown, but probably around the hour mark.
It was a cracking spot for woodland endemics - Tomtit, Rifleman, NZ Robin (incredibly confiding - they were picking the bugs off my sons wellies at one point!), Bellbird, Yellowhead, Brown Creeper.
They also have the rare NZ Falcon there, although we dipped on those (which was a bit disappointing given they had signs up warning that the falcons might attack!)
I believe there are also Yellow-crowned Parakeets in the forests of the are.

I would recommend that you pick up the recent book 'Birds of New Zealand - Locality Guide' by Stuart Chambers (2009 edition). If you can get the spiral bound version, the pages are falling out of mine (though it was used heavily in April / May when we were over there).

ianreid · Sep 13, 2010

mjh73 said:
We spent a good half day at Lake Sylvan in April. Can't remember exactly how long it took us to get from Queenstown, but probably around the hour mark.
It was a cracking spot for woodland endemics - Tomtit, Rifleman, NZ Robin (incredibly confiding - they were picking the bugs off my sons wellies at one point!), Bellbird, Yellowhead, Brown Creeper.
They also have the rare NZ Falcon there, although we dipped on those (which was a bit disappointing given they had signs up warning that the falcons might attack!)
I believe there are also Yellow-crowned Parakeets in the forests of the are.

I would recommend that you pick up the recent book 'Birds of New Zealand - Locality Guide' by Stuart Chambers (2009 edition). If you can get the spiral bound version, the pages are falling out of mine (though it was used heavily in April / May when we were over there).

Many thanks for the info. This sounds ideal. After considering all the various options, I am now leaning towards using my day before the conf to drive to Twizel/Glentanner/Mt Cook, and then the day after the conference to bird at Lake Sylvan for half a day, before flying to Christchurch early afternoon.

Kind regards, Ian

RFI: Birding around Queenstown (1 Viewer)

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