Experiencing Kiwi

Well nobody said that seeing kiwi would be easy but I didn't expect it to be quite so strange. Last time I was in New Zealand in 2018 I managed to see little spotted kiwi, this time I connected with great spotted kiwi and Rowi (also known as Okarito brown kiwi), but that only tells half the story!

Kiwi are nocturnal so that presents it's own set of problems, but they also live in woodland and all species are pretty rare. We were staying in Franz Josef Glacier, only about 15 miles from Okarito so I booked myself onto a tour run by Okratiro Kiwi Tours because this seemed the only realistic way of seeing a Rowi, the rarest of all the kiwi.

Kea at Arthur's Pass

Arthur's Pass is the gateway to the west coast of New Zealand when travelling from Christchurch and it is renowned for its friendly kea. These are large birds which are also known as mountain parotts and at Arthur's Pass they have become relatively tame and will even 'steal' items from unsuspecting tourists.

We saw about 4 birds in the village, and then two more at the Otira viaduct lookout. The latter were incredibly tame and one even came and pecked at my camera lens as I tried to take its photo.

Weka

Weka are large rail like birds endemic to New Zealand which are not too dissimilar to corncrakes in size and look, although they occupy completely different habitats. During our journey from Nelson to Arthur's Pass we stopped off at several lookouts and view points and found relatively tame weka walking around the car parks, including this bird at Hope Saddle Lookout.

A few New Zealand endemics

Photo: Double-banded plover.

My planned Albatross Encounter trip from Kaikoura was disappointingly cancelled today due to strong winds, but actually it turned out well in the end. Yesterday I had seen plenty of seabirds well on the Whale watching trip and even briefly contemplated cancelling todays trip but decided to go ahead with it on the off chance that I would get something different. However when it was cancelled not only did I get a full refund but I was then able to head off to Kaikoura headland for a sea watch from there.

It was very impressive, the wind had driven many seabirds close inshore, especially Hutton's shearwater which were going past in their thousands. Also from the headland, at least 3 Salvin's albatross, southern royal albatross and white-capped albatross, plus 3 northern giant petrels.

Plenty of other birds today as well, including a new species for me, Double-banded plover.

Albatross's from Kaikoura

Photo: Salvin's albatross.

Today's whale watching trip was really only about seeing sperm whale but inevitably I picked up  a few decent seabirds, most pleasing of which were this stunning Salvin's albatross and a few southern royal albatross. This brings my albatross life list to ten species.

Whale watching Kaikoura

Photo: male Sperm whale diving

Whale watching in Kaikoura today and what a fabulous day, we saw a single sperm whale and many dusky dolphins, both of which were new for me. Also today two new species of albatross and a few other decent sea birds.

Black-billed Gulls in quake city

New Zealand sits on the Pacific Ocean's Ring of Fire and as such is hit by frequent earthquakes, with several in the past decade including the devastating 2011 quake which killed 185 people in Christchurch and demolished many buildings and severely damaged the city's cathedral. Earthquakes are a way of life and a constant threat and to the visitor the the city appears to be in a permanent state of being rebuilt.

Also damaged in the 2011 quake was a 17-storey office building in Armagh Road owned by PwC. Following the quake the building was demolished and cleared so that all that remains now is a hole in the ground which was the buildings basement as well as concrete foundations and metal reinforcing.

It's a bit of an eyesore to be honest, but amazingly in amongst the rubble and twisted steel the worlds most endangered gull has made itself at home in the Central Business District of New Zealand's second most populous city.

New Zealand Scaup

This New Zealand scaup was incredibly tame today in Christchurch Botanic Gardens. Earlier in the day I'd seen about 100 adults, many with very young chicks at pools adjacent to the Heathcoate River mouth. This was a new bird for me today.

A stop over in Singapore

On our way to New Zealand and Australia, we decided to stop off for three days in Singapore. It's absolutely not a birding stop but inevitably I was bound to pick up a few new species having never been to south-east Asia before. One of the commonest was this beautiful black-naped oriole and in total I managed 20 new species in Singapore. Most spectacularly I managed to find an unprecedented flock of 12 Himalayan Vultures themalling over the CPD, whilst most pleasing for me was getting a good look at blue-crowned hanging-parrots.

Himalayan Vultures, Singapore!

During a visit to Singapore CPD today I spotted 12 large birds thermaling overhead. Turns out they were Himalayan vultures which aren't even annual in Singapore, and although there have been 3 or 4 seen recently, 12 is unprecedented numbers. I reported the sighting on the Singapore birders Facebook group and since then there have been other sightings of the flock elsewhere in the country. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me and had to be content with these phone camera shots (not through the telescope!). Also today, blue-crowned hanging parrots, bright green, about the size of a sparrow, they habitually hang upside down and even sleep that way. My new favourite bird!

Singapore

Red junglefowl, one of several seen in Singapore Botanic Gardens. This is a species which occurs naturally in this part of south-east Asia but in Singapore some populations are under threat from hybridisation with domestic fowl. This bird looks pretty good to me but it's hard to know how pure it really is.

More to follow from Singapore soon...