Got a bit tied up, need to get this report going again
21 December. Miranda & Pureora Forest.
Picture postcard weather, not a trace of wind. Departed Tiritiri at 10.30 am, the tourist boat arriving to drop off passengers kindly doing a special run to Gulf Harbour. And from there, via Auckland and exotics such as
Spotted Dove and
Barbary Dove, shot straight down to Miranda to catch the afternoon high tide.
One of the top wader locations in New Zealand, Miranda is pretty amazing on tides that exceed 3.8 metres or so - virtually everything from this part of the Firth of Thames gets pushed onto a shingle bank or pools adjacent to the hides. And so I arrived, an hour or two before high tide, 3000 Bar-tailed Godwits and 1000
South Island Oystercatchers already roosting, plus a nice collection of added extras - 80 or so
Red Knot, three
Far-eastern Curlews, 20
Pacific Golden Plovers, several
Banded Dotterels, a few
Ruddy Turnstones and, in pride of place, an impressive 350
Wrybills, amazing birds. Adding to the collection,
Black-billed Gulls on the shingle bank, several
Caspian Terns, many
White-faced Herons and an assortment of
cormorants -
Great, Little Pied and Little Black).
As the tide rose, suddenly the smaller waders were in the air, a wheeling flock of hundreds of
Wrybills. Over my head and to pools to my yonder, down they settled right in front of one of the hides. Taking a wander over, what a treat it was- at very close range, lines and lines of
Wrybills in their smart finery, along with three
Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and a few
Banded Dotterels. As a backdrop, occasional
Australasian Harriers quartering, frequently provoking
Masked Lapwings and
Pied Stilts to set off in alarm.
As the high tide passed, it was time to move on - destination Pureora Forest, a drive of about 2.5 hours. Arrived a little before dark, set up my tent in the Ngaherenga campsite and enjoyed another evening chorus, Tui in full voice, a medley of European flavours added in (
Blackbird, Song Thrush, Greenfinch, etc).
22 December. Pureora Forest, Taupo & Jerusalem.
A bit cold at dawn - a mere 5 C! Shivered my way out of the tent, first bird a very nice male
Tomtit, a new bird for me! Seeking out a patch of early morning sun, I then tried to soak in a bit of warmth while enjoying quite a bit of bird activity - a flock of noisy
Kaka on the forest edge, flyover
Yellow-crowned Parakeets, a
Sacred Kingfisher, my one and only
Pacific Long-tailed Cuckoo and, perhaps less illustrious, my first
Dunnock of the trip (a species that would be abundant for the rest of the trip). Many more birds seen as it warmed up – among a mix of non-native species, also saw flocks of
Silvereyes and
Grey Warblers, at least ten
Whiteheads, one
Rifleman and one female
Tomtit.
Becoming quite hot by 10 am, I then thought I could turn my attention to finding a few butterflies ...this being New Zealand, I found a grand total of just six individuals, all one species! Fortunately it was a new species for me -
Maui's Copper. Very similar to Coastal Coppers, a line of dark dots on the underwing seemed to be fairly consistent.
Though Pureora Forest really deserved more time, I was acutely aware that I had a ferry booked to South Island next day, the ferry terminal still 450 km away. So, hitting the road, it was time to head south, next stop the Taupo area. First port of call was Wharf Road, a small road 6km north-west of Turangi that crossed a fairly extensive reedbed and ended at Lake Taupo itself. Hundreds of
Black Swans and
New Zealand Scaup dotted across the water and a very nice place to break for coffee.
Black-billed Gulls populated a jetty pushing out into the lake,
Welcome Swallows flitted about and no shortage of
Australasian Harriers drifting about. And I was just thinking how fine this area must be for
Australasian Bitterns at dawn when one did the honours and flew across! A long slow flight from reeds to the west, over my head and off to reeds in the east - given it was now hot, sunny and mid-afternoon, this was luck indeed! Also
Australasian Swamphens,
Little Pied Cormorants and
Little Black Cormorants here.
A mere ten minutes drive away and I was in Turangi, heartland of
Blue Duck territory. A curious-looking endemic, this species can sometimes prove rather problematic to find and, except lots of fishermen in the water, indeed I saw nothing at the first site I tried (beneath the main road bridge near town). Looking at the map, there seemed to be a riverside track following the river a few kilometres upstream, so I relocated to continue my search - and almost immediately, bingo! Adjacent to a shingle bank, feeding just off the riverbank, a very fine pair of adult
Blue Ducks and a moderately well-grown duckling. Lying on the shingle, slowly the ducks approached, eventually just a few metres away, superb views! Pleased to see them here as my back-up localities all required quite some detour!
With my main target of the day seen, I then decided to try and find
Nankeen Night Heron - a relatively recent colonist to New Zealand, the only known individuals are a handful along the Whanganui River near the small village of Jerusalem, a two-hour drive to the south, albeit on pretty rubbish roads. On arrival, I was a bit dismayed to find seemingly endless habitat, a vast number of suitable roost trees and no obvious place they might hang out, or indeed any particular locality I might wait at dusk to see them. With no precise location, I very quickly understood that I was not going to see them and instead turned my attention to a number of butterflies that were active - as well as abundant
Small Whites, a whole bunch of
Common Bush Blues and, better still, just before the sun vanished behind clouds, two
New Zealand Red Admirals, another new species for me.
Then, however, a stroke of luck - seeing a few flowering shrubs across the main road bridge, I decided to potter across to check for butterflies. And what did I find? In a tree next to the bridge, one adult
Nankeen Night Heron! Success! With that, with a bunch of
Peafowl calling on the opposite hillside, I continued south for another hour or so, eventually turning inland to a nice campsite not far from Otaki.