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Advice and questions: Visiting New Zealand June to early August (1 Viewer)

Hi Chlidonias

Do you know how easy it is to visit Stewart Island/Ulva Island in Winter. Some people were saying at orientation that travel there was rather tricky, due to weather conditions in winter, and had said it was possible to get stranded there for a week or more. I am on a tight time table, and so wondering if Ulva Island would be a smart move (I was going to go the week before I leave, but am concerned about missing flights)
 
I went to Stewart last winter (August) and had really no problems travelling. Didn't go to Ulva as there were really no species I wanted to see there (Yellowheads are translocated there and I'd seen all other potential species on other places, including YH). However, there was a slight problem with accommodation, with one of the two (? if I can recall well) hostels was closed and we barely managed to get a room... You might want to give them a call beforehand and to check the weather forecast to choose appropriate days for the ferry crossing (and to avoid getting stranded...).
Best of luck!
 
Mysticete said:
Hi Chlidonias

Do you know how easy it is to visit Stewart Island/Ulva Island in Winter. Some people were saying at orientation that travel there was rather tricky, due to weather conditions in winter, and had said it was possible to get stranded there for a week or more. I am on a tight time table, and so wondering if Ulva Island would be a smart move (I was going to go the week before I leave, but am concerned about missing flights)
Click to expand...
I've never heard of anyone getting stuck there for a week or more. There are two options for getting back and forth, the ferry from Bluff or the plane from Invercargill. I would definitely go, and maybe give yourself a day or two leeway either side just in case of weather disruption but there shouldn't be any problems.

As said above, some of the accommodations are only open in the main season (i.e. summer) so book ahead to be sure. There are quite a lot of accommodation options there but many of them are peoples' homes that double as "hotels" when there are a lot of visitors around. The YHA there will always be open.

For kiwi, there's the tour that goes across the Neck to the beach (how most people do it). But you can also find them yourself *fairly* easily at night. Back Road is generally a good bet (just outside town), and also check the Fuschia Walk by the sports field. I've seen them on Ulva Island as well but you have to be lucky there because there's only about thirty on the island I think.
 
First weekend in Dunedin...rented a car with a couple of friends in the department here and hit up Orokonui ecosanctuary. We got a rather late start, exasperated by probably the slowest car rental I have ever dealt with. Combined with overall crappy conditions (constant light rain and overcast conditions) meant for a rather slow bit of birding, probably not helped by being with two people interested in birds but not themselves birders.

However, I was able to add 4 new species to the life list:

New Zealand Falcon (a surprise...found by tracking down a pair of Tui's freaking out, who were chasing a falcon out of nearby bush and downslope...not the best views though thanks to my fogged up bins and eye glasses

Tomtit: several good views.

Rifleman: Several good but quick views. New family for me.

Brown Creeper/Pipipi: One flock as we exited the forest on our way back gave good views.

Dipped on Fernbird, South Island Saddleback (which are apparently seldom seen anyway, as they don't seem to frequent the main areas), and the South Island form of New Zealand Robin. New Zealand Pigeon, Tui, Bellbird, and Silvereye were also common.

FYI, They have introduced Great Spotted Kiwi into the park. The birds are apparently doing well and breeding, however when I enquired about how often they are seen on night tours the answer was rarely. Given time for the population to build and perhaps greater experience for the staff running the tour, this sanctuary could be a more reliable location for what I understand to be one of the more difficult Kiwi.

Not seen in the sanctuary and not lifers, but I have also added Welcome Swallow, Eastern Swamp Harrier, Pacific Black Duck, and Australian Magpie to the trip list, either on the drive or on campus today.
 
Mysticete said:
FYI, They have introduced Great Spotted Kiwi into the park. The birds are apparently doing well and breeding, however when I enquired about how often they are seen on night tours the answer was rarely. Given time for the population to build and perhaps greater experience for the staff running the tour, this sanctuary could be a more reliable location for what I understand to be one of the more difficult Kiwi.
Click to expand...
are you sure about that? They have released Haast tokoeka (one of the brown kiwi) there starting in 2010/11. I'd be surprised if they have released great spotted as well and I can't find anything on it.


Orokonui is great but it is fairly newly-established and thus it is much harder to find the birds than at Zealandia or Tiritiri, because the numbers just haven't built up yet.
 
I was just re-reading the thread, and I put early on about how the best place to see Hector's dolphins is at Akaroa (next to Christchurch). Seeing you won't have time perhaps to go there, another good spot is Porpoise Bay (by Curio Bay with its fossilised forest) down south of Dunedin. It would be an easy day-trip by car on a weekend.

Hector's dolphins can also be seen at Kaikoura from the albatross boat (ask the skipper and he will/might swing by the spot on the way back to port and see if they are around).
 
Ha...you are correct Chlidonias...somehow I got the Haast mixed up with Great Spotted, because I think I remember reading that was a region where the Great Spotted was commonly seen.

And yeah...I figured the lower bird numbers compared to Zealandia were in part due to the newer status of the park. It was certainly obvious that the trails were still being worked on, and some of the feeder set ups were not quite as varied as those at Zealandia
 
Mysticete said:
Ha...you are correct Chlidonias...somehow I got the Haast mixed up with Great Spotted, because I think I remember reading that was a region where the Great Spotted was commonly seen.
Click to expand...
you might be thinking of the Heaphy Track? (I'm trying to think of somewhere in the northwest that starts with an H).

Haast is way down south above Fiordland, well well well south of great spotted kiwi range (they are basically in the northwest bit and around the Arthurs Pass area).
 
Yeah...no clue

Booked a night in Tiritiri Matangi at the end of my Auckland research trip. only had time for one night...so I am hoping I can connect with Kiwi and Kokado in that short a time period. Surprisingly, the bunkhouses were almost booked up, so glad I reserved my room when I did. Should have time on Monday to visit Mangere as well...hopefully adding some much needed shorebirds to my list.
 
it's probably a research group (or a volunteer party) at Tiritiri then. Which is good for you because it means you might get some direct info from them depending on what it is they are studying.

At Mangere you *should* be able to get wrybill, NZ dotterel and NZ dabchick (for the dabchick walk [or drive if you have a car] to the end of the causeway to Puketutu Island and there are usually dabchicks on the basin at the end on your right; check the sides of the canal as well for black-fronted dotterel).

What date are you in Auckland because I'll be there at the very start of August?
 
Sadly I will be in Auckland in July (doing Tiritiri Matangi on the 13th-14th).

Given my research scheduling, I am skeptical whether I will get back up to North Island again on this fellowship.
 
P.S. Are there any tips on packing food for Tiritiri Matangi...the food restrictions seem pretty strict on how you bring food on the island
 
so long as your food is inside your pack then it's fine. I was staying for three nights so I got a plastic storage container. You can also get a cardboard box (e.g. from a supermarket) and tape around the edges. The only thing is that it can't be in open bags or boxes.

When you get to the island all you stuff gets put on a trailer and taken up to the bunkhouse so you don't need to carry anything far.

The bunkhouse has fridges, freezers, stove, microwave, etc.
 
I just noticed your stay is over a weekend, so the other people staying there might be more regular folk rather than researchers.
 
I'm not sure you are aware of a website called "New Zealand birds online" which seems to be quite an amazing resource. It was launched 2 weeks ago in a collaboration between Te Papa, OSNZ and DoC. Explore it, it seems really interesting and with lots of info (even extracts of published field and location guides for each species).
http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/
 
RafaelMatias said:
I'm not sure you are aware of a website called "New Zealand birds online" which seems to be quite an amazing resource. It was launched 2 weeks ago in a collaboration between Te Papa, OSNZ and DoC. Explore it, it seems really interesting and with lots of info (even extracts of published field and location guides for each species).
http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/
Click to expand...
that last bit is particularly noteworthy. If you go to any particular bird's entry (say, yellow-eyed penguin), on the right of the screen under the photo gallery is a list of icons for different book titles (e.g. the Heather & Robertson field guide, Chambers location guide, etc). Click on any of those icons and it will take you to that species' entry in that book. The entirety of each book is included so you can peruse the whole thing for data. Very good indeed.
 
yeah it's been lovely :(

Mostly writing and getting some measurements set up for next week's collection visit to Adelaide. Weather wouldn't be so bad except I have been freezing my but off at night, and we have a half hour walk into school.
 
Don't really have a schedule of what is going on for the last half of my NZ trip....although I suspect another trip to Wellington is not in the cards :(

Heading today to Adelaide...probably leave some notes in the Australia forum on anything I see (with a summary here when I get back)
 
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