(Year & Life birds in bold) 700th post! Procrastinated this for far too long, realistically could've finished a week back but didn't find the motivation ig.
Made my 3rd trip to Tiritiri Matangi around two weeks back, to tick off the year birds that I’d seen as lifers on my previous
visits (you have to scroll down a bit) last year. On the ferry, it went better than last time, but I have to admit birding on a moving ferry is just not my thing. Birds only really appear as specks on the horizon, and even when the boat flushes through a flock, I’m too slow on the binocs/getting good views, so I basically can only confidently id birds flushed up from the bow. But still, got a few sea-bird year ticks, including satisfying
Buller’s Shearwater views, witnessing their stunning sleek white underside, and otherwise just really neat palette, massive flocks of
Fluttering Shearwaters where I saw at least a few which clearly lacked any white above the eye (dumpy little birds which would always try and make their escape right before the ferry ran them down-[think one of them didn’t get out..]), a few
Gannet flocks, a few distant skuas (absolutely massive! But I don’t know how to id them), and best of all a
Penguin! Now as the boat was, of course, ploughing right towards it, I saw its silhouette above water, rushed over and saw it, in colour, as it dove. But, as I got better views of them later (to be elaborated) I’ll tick them off here.
Arriving on the island, I was a bit surprised there were no Pateke at their usual spot at the wharf pond, but didn’t think much of it and made my way up the Wattle Track, flushing a
Kakariki off the path as first land bird of the day. Continuing to make my way up, the day didn’t feel all too birdy, ticking off the common forest birds, and stumbling across a tiny lil
Brown-Quail chick stuck in a divot next to the path (it eventually clambered its way out and into the undergrowth). But the highlight was a flock of
Tieke, a quite common forest bird, but what made it special was the fact that it was a huge foraging flock. Perhaps 14 of the birds, all hopping around and calling in a single quite open piece of shrubbery, shattering ringing calls, with red and black contrast leaping out of the bushes, like a flock of tiny insurgents. Also noted the small fringe of yellow which separates the red and black patch on the nape, probably the easiest way to separate the North and South Island species and quite happy that I got good views of the feature. Continuing on, saw a bird which I wouldn’t have noticed if not for the bands on it, but that a distinctly long bill and pale white wing patch cinched the inconspicuous grey bird as a female
Hihi, before it quickly fluttered off, feel a bit bad about counting it, as not sure I would’ve realised without the bands/separated it from the constant presence of Korimako, but counted it on the basis I’d see it later on in the day(but did not, along w. spotless crake), but as I’ve seen both before and will almost definitely see them later [as well as them being 100% id’d!], I’m fine with counting them chronologically as here (similar to the penguin).
Later on, I made my way down to the lighthouse and the ponds behind it, expecting to get Pateke here but weirdly, no dice. Got another year-tick here, a bird that I don’t think I can ever get sick of seeing, Poodytes : DD/
Fernbird, a silly little name for a silly little bird. They scurry around in dense thickets of plants, but on Tiritiri I always have good luck with them appearing (although of course I haven’t been to any other sites with them), and if their behaviour wasn’t enough, I think they’re also one of the prettiest birds, a modest brown and white streaked body, glinting off sunlight as you see it within the cracks of vegetation, a real stunner. Made my way back down the Wattle Track as there were less people and it felt significantly more birdy, highlights being a
Toutouwai (probably the same as the one from my first trip considering location) I befriended which hung around my boot which was nice, and a
Kakariki feeding in the undergrowth. The highlight though, was coming round a bend approaching the hihi feeder on the Wattle Track, I heard a loud piercing call. Knowing that it was one of the common birds on the island, I still wanted to check it out, so as to improve at pinpointing calls. Scanning I found the bird a very loud
Korimako, but then I caught the shape to its right and it was a roosting
Ruru!! Now I had known about birds giving alarm calls when they come across predators, especially roosting owls in an attempt to drive them away, but a) I had no idea it was an alarm call & b) I had no idea I’d have the good fortune of stumbling into one!! Really happy with this as I believe it’s only the third time in my life (and one of those was two weeks back at Auckland Zoo!) I’ve ever seen one, and to see it up close and in the day no less, truly something special.
Moving just past it, across the road to the entrance of the track, spotted arguably the best day birds on the island, a
Kokako and surprisingly a trio of
Titipounamu! Unfortunately they were quite far away, backlit by the sun and I was too slow on the binocs, so I just saw a trio of tiny blurs quickly flutter out of sight. Followed by this was a sighting of
Spotless Crake, but all I caught was its pink legs scampering as it ducked into cover, as it’s ‘only’ a year-bird and I’m near certain I’ll see them again later on, I'll count them here for now. I then made my way down the Hobbs Beach track, in hopes of perhaps being able to find a Tuatara outside of its burrow, (this is a good spot, as some guides confirmed there were quite a few active burrows around, as well as someone showing me a photo of one on my last trip), but dipped unfortunately. Although the birding went great! I first checked out the penguin hides (artificial burrows, with the top replaced with glass, as well as a flippable lid to allow for some sheltering), not expecting all that much, imagine to my surprise when I see they’re actually occupied!! Feels good to finally get close up views of
penguins
, with 1 in one hide and 2 in another, although they sure did reek! Walking further down Hobbs, still searching for Tuatara, one of the highlights of the day appeared. As I was rounding a bend, a small green flash popped out of a kawakawa bush right in front of me. Imagine my surprise when I’m greeted to literal face to face views with a stunningly emerald male
Titipounamu. (You can id the sexes based off of their colouration, females are streaked whilst males are a beautiful solid green which contrast their unmarked white bellies). The insect-sized bird perched for a second before fleeting off into the undergrowth. I continued to make my way up to where the Hobbs Track meets Ridge Road, and had another highlight: a pair of
Kokako feeding on the ground. Now in the canopy/air these birds maintain a regal status, nicknamed ‘the grey-ghost’, yet on the ground they look absurdly out of place. Like disgruntled jerboas as they hop from one stand of grass to the next. (Also interestingly, I picked up a newsletter from their shop, and on it celebrated a kokako fledging, particularly in how one of the parents had finally became a father, important as he was the only individual still alive from the past Taranaki population, and the trio had been photographed right where I saw mine interestingly enough, also interesting is that apparently he’s been through quite a few places, such as the Otorohanga Kiwi House, which Chlidonias may’ve owned? Not too sure although).
Heading back from these highlights, I made my way back up to the lighthouse to tick off the few birds that I was still missing, as I made my way down the link-track to the ponds at the South-Eastish area, to see if I could tick off Pateke and Takahe, ran into a guy and his family, who’s a herpetologist at Auckland Zoo, and was involved with reptile re-introduction here! He gave me a lot of helpful tips on trying to find 2 of my target herps (half considering there's only 4 species on the island…), Duvacuel’s Gecko & Moko Skink, with both species apparently only coming out visibly to bask on cool-ish days, and both found usually at the base of flax bushes. And apparently the Duvacuel’s Geckos were literally reintroduced right in the ridge track I was walking on! I then ticked off
Takahe, and leaving the east-pond after not finding Pateke, I saw a
Kokako and a
Titipounamu perched together in the same tree…. Think I know where all my herping luck’s gone. I made my way back down to the south pond to finally tick off
Pateke and wrapped up my day, heading back up to the wharf and going home.
Unrelated but a bit after this trip, I found a
Mahoe-Stripper Moth on my balcony door which was a neat lifer, quite pretty, and had nearly mistaken it for puriri when I first caught it!
Also went on a road-trip up to Cape Reinga (the most northern point of mainland NZ that’s accessible to visitors) a week back, but unfortunately for me dipped on literally all my targets! (Those being fairy-tern, barn-owl and kookaburra) but I still managed to net 2 lifers and a few year-birds. Highlights being, a surprise juvenile
Banded Rail at Tawharanui Regional Park, road-cruising on the highways up north, specifically 15, some really nice scenery there. Hunting for Barn Owls in Kaitaia didn’t go that great, as we’d entered quite late, add to not having any real clue in location, (The email I sent had been forwarded to another person, and unfortunately I never got a reply from them), we did a bit of road-cruising with my dad eventually calling it quits, (think I may have heard something weird? I believe it sounded like 2 screeches and then a ruru call? Don’t remember the details too much), but at least picked up
Possum as a lifer on the way too and back (almost definitely the same individual both times, won’t be long till lil’ guy becomes just another pad of fur on the road).
On the next day we drove up to Cape Reinga, which I won’t lie was a bit disappointing. Picked up
Yellowhammer, but as we didn’t have all that much time we drove south after about 20 or so minutes. It took us another 4 hours to reach the next birding spot in Waipu, where there was one of only 4 fairy tern breeding colonies. But I couldn’t find any, what was a nice find was a
Ruddy Turnstone, which although the size throws me a bit off (noticeably smaller compared to NZ Dott.s but I don’t think it was by all that much?), I’m certain of the id. It was late evening by the time we were exiting Waipu, so no chance to try at any of the other fairy tern sites or to twitch the recently showed up vagrant Asian Gull-Billed Tern (Not sure how accepted this split is, but it’s still really interesting as so far only the Australian sp/ssp has shown up on NZ shores). I’ll see if I can retry for those targets this weekend, but I doubt I’ll be able to access them after the record floods which have hit Auckland. My heart goes out to all those affected by it. But perhaps I’ll be able to go out to Mangere for another try at Broad-billed Sandpiper.
Mammals:
2.
Possum (
Trichosurus vulpecula)
Birds:
45. Australasian Gannet (
Morus serrator)
46. Fluttering Shearwater (
Puffinus gavia)
47.
Korora [Little-Blue Penguin] (
Eudyptula minor)
48. Buller's Shearwater (
Puffinus bulleri)
49. Red-crowned Kakariki (
Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae)
50. Toutouwai [NI Robin] (
Petroica longipes)
51. Korimako (
Anthornis melanura)
52. NI Tieke (
Philesturnus rufusater)
53. Popokotea (
Mohoua albicilla)
54. Brown Quail (
Synoicus ypsilophorus)
55. Hihi (
Notiomystis cincta)
56. NZ Fernbird (
Megalurus punctatus)
57. Ruru (
Ninox novaeseelandiae)
58. NI Kokako (
Callaeas wilsoni)
59. Titipounamu (
Acanthisitta chloris)
60. Spotless Crake (
Porzana tabuensis)
61. Takahe (
Porphyrio hochstetteri)
62. Pateke (
Anas chlorotis)
63. Buff-Banded Rail (
Gallirallus philippensis)
64. Swamp Harrier (
Circus approximans)
65. Feral Turkey (
Meleagris gallopavo)
66. Yellowhammer (
Emberiza citrinella)
67.
Ruddy Turnstone (
Arenaria interpres)
68. Little Shag (
Microcarbo melanoleucos)
INVERTS TALLY: 19
Insects:
10. European Honeybee (
Apis mellifera)
11. Pasture Wireworm (
Conoderus exsul)
12.
Balta bicolor -(Invasive Cockroach)
13.
Asian Paper-Wasp (
Polistes chinensis)
14.
Mahoe-Stripper Moth (
Feredayia graminosa)
15. Lesser Grass Blue (
Zizina otis)
16. Black-Field Cricket (
Teleogryllus commodus)
Annelids:
1. Mediterranean Fanworm (
Sabella spallanzanii)
Molluscs:
1. Leopard Slug (
Limax maximus)
)
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