A few weeks ago my boss tells me that my annual leave had accumulated to such an extent that I had to take time off "right away". So, with overseas travel off the table, I decided to take a little trip around some upper North Island sites to try and find some birds and mammals which I had so far not seen. The plan was to go first from Wellington to Hamilton to try and find Long-tailed Bats; then up to Russell via Auckland to look for North Island Brown Kiwi and North Island Weka; then back to Auckland to try (again) for Bryde's Whale; then across to Rotorua for Tammar Wallaby; and finally to Napier where there is currently a Marsh Sandpiper (which I've seen overseas but not in New Zealand). There was a rearrangement right at the start when Auckland went into a three-day covid lockdown, so I moved Rotorua forwards; and then today Auckland went into a seven-day lockdown which means that Napier is now out and I'll be stuck here for at least a week doing nothing. So I'm just going to post the year-list additions now because I'm probably not going to be seeing much else.
I have put all the year-birds and year-mammals in bold so they are easy to see, but it doesn't signify them being lifers.
The first new year-birds, from the nine-hour bus ride up to Hamilton, were White-fronted Tern, Australasian Harrier, Common Mynah, and White-faced Heron. The mynahs are only found in the top half of the North Island, so not a bird I normally see.
Hamilton is one of the few cities with resident Long-tailed Bats, and the best place for them is Hammond Park. This was an hour's walk from where I was staying, and I did not see any bats. Today was when Auckland's first lockdown happened, so I had to rearrange my schedule and bookings, although as the next day was raining and I couldn't do anything else I had plenty of time for it. The one thing I did do was have a wander around Hamilton Lake in the rain, as it was just around the corner from my accommodation. The lake's birdlife seemed to consist of 70% Mallards and 30% Pukekos. Year-birds seen here were Australasian Coot, Little Black Shag, NZ Dabchick, and Spotted Dove. All the mynahs and doves calling in Hamilton made me feel like I was back in Asia! There was no point looking for bats in the rain, so I saved myself the walk. I also skipped the zoo for now because I was coming back through the city after Rotorua.
On the third day I caught the bus to Rotorua, only two hours away. Nothing new was seen from the bus; in town I took a walk around the Sulphur Bay Walkway, where the only year-bird added was Caspian Tern. The following morning I caught a bus round to near the Mt Ngongotaha Forest Loop on the edge of town. During two hours on the loop-track I saw four birds! A North Island Tomtit was the only new one for the year (the other three birds were a Grey Warbler, a NZ Pigeon, and a NZ Fantail). After that disappointing start I took another bus over to the Whakarewarewa Redwoods Forest where it seemed like the birdlife was restricted to Chaffinches! However I was actually here for Tammar Wallabies. These were introduced to New Zealand about a hundred years ago, and the particular subspecies then became extinct in Australia. If I could find any they would be a lifer for me. I inquired at the visitor centre there as to which might be the best trail to take for wallabies. The lady told me that they are only far back in the forest, not around the visitor areas, and suggested an 11km trail. I did maybe an eighth of this trail but it was just going along a ridge with no real forest, so I tried a different trail instead. On this one I found a nice grassy clearing. As I was contemplating how this looked perfect for wallabies I noticed wallaby droppings on the grass at the forest edge. Further looking showed droppings all around the edges of the clearing. It turned out this was the old quarry area, and it was literally only eight minutes walk from the visitor centre. I had a long wait until dusk (it was still only 3pm) but my long boring vigil paid off. At 8.30pm, just as it was getting dark, a Tammar Wallaby appeared from the forest. Of course it came out behind me, which meant I had to look at it through my binoculars from an awkward twisted position. I had about ten minutes watching it before it got too dark to see, and then I had an hour's walk back to town (the last bus had been two hours prior).
I had an extra day in Rotorua - I hadn't really expected to find any wallabies on the first try - in which I found some Redpolls and finally ONE Black-billed Gull, supposedly the dominant gull on the lake here. The next day was back to Hamilton where the search for bats was again unsuccessful, although I did find a Black Rat. It's been a while since I've seen one of these - usually I see Brown Rats - and it was quite frightening to see how fast it was moving through the tree branches (in NZ they are major predators of the native birds).
The day after that I made it to the Hamilton Zoo for the first time. I took the first bus there which gave me 1.5 hours free to visit the neighbouring Waiwhakareke Reserve before the zoo opened. This turned out to be a waste of time, with only common birds seen, but never mind. In the evening I returned to Hammond Park yet again. Eastern Rosella was added to the year-list, but the bats remained stubbornly unseen.
Next I headed up to Auckland. Not much was done today apart for visiting the Auckland War Memorial Museum to see if there were any extinct bird specimens to photograph, so this became the first day of the trip where nothing was added to either the bird or mammal year-lists. I would be going up to Russell soon for kiwi, but I had one more day in Auckland which I used to visit Rangitoto Island, specifically to try and spot a Banded Rail. I've seen these overseas but in NZ they are only patchily distributed (and never really where I live) and my only previous NZ sighting was untickable. Fortunately I found them on Rangitoto quite readily once I got to the mangrove area in which they occur, although they were not close enough for photographs. Other year-birds seen on the island were Brown Quail, Red-crowned Kakariki, and NZ Dotterel.
Now it was time to head even further north, to the little town of Russell which is a stronghold for North Island Brown Kiwi and North Island Weka. I've seen the Western and Stewart Island Weka subspecies but not the North Island one because their current distribution is so restricted. The bus was about 4.5 hours up to the town of Paihia, from which one then takes a 15 minute ferry ride across to the peninsula on which Russell is situated. From the bus I started seeing turkeys in the roadside pastures. I was hesitant about counting these as it is difficult to know whether something like a turkey is acually feral or just farm-stock, but Northland is known for its wild turkeys and they started getting so frequent that eventually I decided to accept them as Feral Turkey. However I'm only putting them on my year-list and NZ-list because I want the turkeys on my life-list to be genuine wild birds in North America and not feral domestics!
Once in Russell I had about an hour's very hot walk (everywhere seems to be an hour's walk!) to the Orongo Bay Holiday Park, a place I had chosen because they have their own forest trail with kiwi and weka. I was staying in a room (as opposed to a tent or a campervan) so it was $100 a night - much more expensive than anywhere I'd normally stay but them's the breaks. On the walk I flushed a female Ring-necked Pheasant (a male was seen better from the bus on the way back to Auckland later). In the grounds of the Holiday Park I eventually found a North Island Weka. I wasn't too amused that a very noisy school group had booked in on the same day as me, but fortunately they were only there the one night and, even more fortunately, did not venture onto the kiwi trail at night as I had feared they would. At 8.50pm, well after dark, I went into the forest. There were lots of Morepork and Weka calling, but no Kiwi. I crept along the path listening for movement. The moon was full so I didn't even need my torch to follow the trail. Soon I heard a snuffling sound in the undergrowth. Searching with my red torchlight, creeping carefully closer, and then the head of a North Island Brown Kiwi poked out from behind a tree fern. It was just a young one, only half grown. It looked around for a bit, retreated, then moved off to the other side of the path and I watched him clamber up the slope and scamper off. It was only 9.30pm.
The next morning I added Brown Teal and Barbary Dove to the year-list. Barbary Doves were a lifer for me, but as with the Turkeys I will probably just put them on my year-list and NZ-list; I'm not sure if I'll put them on my life-list yet. The bus back to Auckland was uneventful, although I was keeping my eyes open for Kookaburras on the roadside powerlines.
Last two days before the lockdown was announced. On the first day I went to the island sanctuary of Tiritiri Matangi. Mostly I wanted to get photos of Spotless Crakes, for which the island is supposed to be super-reliable - although I have been there twice before and not managed to see them! On the crossing were a few Buller's Shearwaters amongst the abundant Fluttering Shearwaters and Australasian Gannets. Surprisingly to myself, I not only found a Spotless Crake on the island, but also obtained photographs. I'm sure some of them will turn out okay! It wasn't a year-bird though because I saw my first one as a lifer down in Wellington just last month. With that accomplished I set off after some year-birds, finding the Takahe easily and also two pairs of North Island Kokako. I couldn't spot any Fernbirds though, and the Little Blue Penguin nest-boxes were unoccupied. Much better was my first ever wild Giant Weta, in a ridiculously unhidden hiding place. No wonder they disappeared from the mainland as soon as rats reached New Zealand.
On the final day of this account (which was yesterday) I went out on the Auckland Whale and Dolphin Safari boat. This was the third time I've been out with them. The first time no cetaceans were seen; the second time only Common Dolphins. I was still hoping for Bryde's Whales which live in the Hauraki Gulf year-round. No luck. Again. There were lots of seabirds of a few species, of which Flesh-footed Shearwaters were new for the year, and two pods of Common Dolphins, but no Bryde's Whales. Eventually I will get them!
Below is the full list (this time the ones in bold are the lifers):
BIRDS:
46) White-fronted Tern Striata albifrons
47) Australasian Harrier Circus approximans
48) Common Mynah Acridotheres tristis
49) White-faced Heron Egretta novaehollandiae
50) Australasian (Common) Coot Fulica atra
51) Little Black Shag Phalacrocorax sulcirostris
52) NZ Dabchick Poliocephalus rufopectus
53) Spotted Dove Streptopelia chinensis
54) Caspian Tern Sterna caspia
55) NZ Tomtit Petroica macrocephala
56) Black-billed Gull Larus bulleri
57) Redpoll Carduelis flammea
58) Eastern Rosella Platycercus eximius
59) Brown Quail Synoicus ypsilophorus
60) Red-crowned Kakariki Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae
61) Banded Rail Gallirallus philippensis
62) NZ Dotterel Charadrius obscurus
63) Feral Turkey Meleagris gallopavo
64) Ring-necked Pheasant Phasianus colchicus
65) Weka Gallirallus australis
66) North Island Brown Kiwi Apteryx mantelli
67) Brown Teal Anas chlorotis
68) Barbary Dove Streptopelia roseogrisea
69) Buller's Shearwater Puffinis bulleri
70) Takahe Porphyrio hochstetteri
71) North Island Kokako Callaeas cinerea (wilsoni)
72) Flesh-footed Shearwater Puffinus carneipes
MAMMALS:
2) Tammar Wallaby Macropus eugenii
3) Black Rat Rattus rattus
4) Common Dolphin Delphinus delphis
Been awesome so far - really nice to finally get some birding done outside of Victoria 
