| Birding
On My Own - Australia and New Zealand 2002 Emmalee Tarry |
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New Zealand West Coast & Fiordland |
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| Alpine Car Eating
Parrot Parrots live in the tropics and penguins in the snow or at least most of us think so. Not in New Zealand where the Kea, an alpine parrot survives in the snow and the Fiorland Crested Penguin breeds in the tropical woodlands of the west coast. The Kea is rather dull looking bird except when it flies and shows scarlet underwings.Named for its raucous call given in flight, the bird can be found anywhere tourists stop. Notice the strong bill. |
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" Don't feed the parrots" signs are posted at every stop
along the road and at every stop tourists are cleaning out their cars of
cookies, bread, and chips. Here the Kea perches on the car roof while his
friends are grabbing handouts from the driver. And the minute you leave your car and to look at the scenery, the birds attack the moulding around your windshield with their sharp peaks. A car left overnight can be destroyed. This is not my car in the picture. |
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Tropical Penguin
The town of Haas on the coast is the first stop on the road from the Haas Pass. I stayed here in the Wilderness Backpackers Hostel which is a YHA affiliate. It is brand new and very nice with a covered court yard with fountains and plants. I am amazed at how hot and tropical it is on the west coast after the cool mountains.
In the late afternoon I drove over the Turnbull River and took a left turn to Hakapu Estuary where there is a nice boardwalk. There were lots of birds here, but nothing especially new: Tui, White-fronted Tern, New Zealand Wood Pigeon.
My focus is now on seeing the Fiordland Crested Penguin and my last chance seems to be Monro Beach to which I have only vague directions. I also don't know the technique for seeing this bird. Everything would tell me to get there early in the morning. I started driving north on the coast road looking for Lake Moeraki Wilderness Lodge.
I made several stops along the way. There are some beautiful lookouts on the ocean. One of these is Ships Creek which is a good birding area. You should keep going until you come to the Lake Moeraki Wilderness Lodge. Better yet stay here as the lodge has a bird guide who will take you to see not only the penguin but other birds in the area.
If you want to do it on your own, just past the lodge you will see a road to the left ( coming from the south) to Monro Beach. Park here. Take water, food, insect repellant and hike the track to the beach. Once on the beach follow the signs to the north end and stay back as instructed.. Find a place to sit quietly and hope that anyone else who comes along will do the same. I later learned that the birds come and go all day so you only have to sit and wait.
I never made it to Monro Beach because I ran into a birder from NY who remembered me from one of Bill Drummond's trips to Colorado. She was part of a bird tour group from California and their group would be going on a trip with the lodge that was guaranteed to see the penguin. Perhaps I could get on this trip. I went to the lodge and told them I was pretty desperate to see the penguin and they kindly agreed to take me on the tour for NZ$65.
At 10 AM we went back to Ships Creek in the lodge bus and walked the trail. Carl the lodge guide sees Fernbird here regularly, but not today. I never did see this bird. We did see quite a few birds including Wood Pigeon, Tomtit, Fantail, Gannet, Bellbird and Hector's Dolphins from the beach. Carl is a very well trained guide and I enjoyed this walk. He is of Scottish Ancestry and we liked his accent and copied his use of "wee bit".
We then drove back toward the lodge to an unmarked trail south of the lodge where we parked and walked about 30 minutes to the beach. We had to ford the creek about 5 times getting our feet soaked. I would suggest Teva type sandals for this hike. I was wearing my hiking boots which I really needed to keep from turning my ankle. It is not an easy trail.
Once on the beach it is necessary to be very quiet. Walk to the south end and sit quietly in the shade. The penguins nest in burrows in the woods and you can hear them calling to each other. The penguins breed from July to December. It is now the end of November and this has been an early year so many have already left the breeding grounds. They will go to sea for December and January returning here in Feburary to molt. After the molt they return to the sea until time to breed again.
We arrived about 1:26 PM. The first penguin came from the sea about 1:30. He (or she) huddled near the cliff at the south end for some time. Be sure you are sitting back from the water and away from this cliff as the path the penguins will take into the colony is near the cliff. By 2:30 we have seen 14-15 penguins. Most came from the sea, but a few seem to come down from the nests.
There are about 3,000 Fiordland Crested Penguins left. The Wilderness Lodge provides one of the best opportunities to see them in the wild while protecting this colony. They also nest on Stewart Island and in the fiords. I was very grateful for the opportunity to see this bird.
| Lake Moeraki Wilderness
Lodge Private Bay 772 Hokitita, NZ Hosts Simon and Shirley Nikoloff State Highway 6, Haast Postal Private Bag 772, Hokitika About NZ$250 per person per night. |
lakemoeraki@wildernesslodge.co.nz www.wildernesslodge.co.nz Phone + 64-3-750 0881 Fax + 64-3-750 0882 Email lakemoeraki@wildernesslodge.co.nz |
Franz Joseph Glacier
After seeing the penguin, I drove on to the town Franz Joseph and the YHA. This is one of the larger and busier YHA and reservations are recommended. It was easy to make reservations one hop in advance and I always did so.
The next day I made the easy 45 minute hike to the face of the Franz Joseph glacier. There were common birds along the way but nothing new.
There are many tours that allow you walk on the glacier itself. I would have liked to have taken one of these trip, but was afraid I would be too slow. From the face of the glacier you can watch the walkers with your binoculars. There is also a helicopter trip which takes you up to the top of the glacier for a walking tour on the upper glacier. Unfortunately the helicopter was grounded because of the weather.
Franz Joseph is a delightful little town that exists for glacier happy tourists. Visit it quickly because the glacier is receding and the river rising. If the present trend continues it may be flooded out of existence.
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