Only a couple of days left in New Zealand. My goal was to see 100 new birds here. I did not quite make it. I saw 103 birds but ten of them were repeats that I had seen before in other countries. I saw 44 endemics, 34 other new lifers, and 25 introduced birds which include the ten repeats.
New Zealand is not a great place for seeing huge numbers of birds. I saw 72 new birds in Guatemala in two weeks and 185 in Belize in two months. Although you can’t rack up large numbers of new lifers, more than 50% of the birds I saw were endemic. So although the grand total was small, many were birds that I could never see in another country. Also, NZ might be the best place in the world to see pelagic birds. I saw 13 species of Albatrosses, Shearwaters and Petrels. I had only ever seen one previously.
Birds that I searched for but never found include the Fiordland Crested |Penguin, Rock Wren, Blue Duck, NZ Falcon, Hutton’s Shearwater, Shore Plover, and Kokako.
My favourite birds by far were the two species of penguins, the Yellow-eyed and the Little Penguin. I had a very special moment one night on Tiritiri Matangi Island when two Little Penguins passed me on the road less than one metre away. Other favourites include the NZ Robin and the Fantail. Both of these birds are very cute and friendly. The rarest sighting were the Takahe and the Black Stilt. Both of these birds have populations of only about 200. Although rare, the Takahe can be easily found on Tiritiri Matangi and at Zealandia and they are quite tame. The Black Stilt was more of a challenge.
The best tours were Ruggedy Range (Stewart Island) and Albatross Encounter (Kaikoura). Both of these tours are similar but you will see different species. The best place for penguins was on the Otago Peninsula. Penguin Place for the Yellow-eyed and just outside of the Royal Albatross Centre for the Little Penguin. There are other viewing places but here you can see them closer and for less money. I didn’t go to the Royal Albatross Centre to see a couple of nesting birds through tinted glass for $40. Instead a chose a boat tour with Monarch tours. Although not as good as the above mentioned tours, it is probably the best place to see Northern and Southern Royal Albatross flying.
Many people told me that Pterodroma Pelagics was excellent. This is a all-day tour for $300. I didn’t go on it because I didn’t go in time for their last tour of the season on 13 April after getting back from South Island. Apparently you would see a lot of pelagics and is the only opportunity to see the very rare NZ Diving Petrel. Sorry I missed out on that one.
I found two species of kiwi. They are interesting but difficult to observe in the dark.
Buy your guidebook before you go to NZ. I bought a guide book to the Birds of NZ in Canada for $26. The same book here averages more than $50. It was printed in UK. NZ is very expensive.
Thank you Chlidonias for all your help.
So ends my tour of New Zealand. Now, north to Alaska.