| Birding
On My Own - Australia and New Zealand 2002 Emmalee Tarry |
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New Zealand West Coast & Fiordland |
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I visited the Okarita Lagoon and Tai Poutine National Park taking a walk up a track to a lookout. This is the last stand of the Great Spotted Kiwi, but of course you cannot see them in the daytime.
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I made reservations for the 11 AM White Heron
trip at Whataroa NZ$89. The trip starts with a bus trip to the boat dock and a
fast ride on a jet boat through the wetland. We saw a Paradise Shelduck with
ducklings along the waterway and the male bird chased the boat on the wing.
As you approach the colony the boat slows and it becomes a good birding trip. From the dock a boardwalk goes through the forest to the bird hide opposite the colony. |
| The White Heron is actually Egretta alba or the
Great Egret of Australia. Not exactly a bird to greatly excite a birder who has
just seen the Fiordland Crested Penguin, but nevertheless this is a nice
trip. This is the only breeding colony of Egretta alba in New Zealand. Also breeding here are Royal Spoonbills and Little Shags There were Kingfishers at the nesting colony |
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The woods and wetland around the colony are probably more
interesting than the birds themselves so put your naturalist hat on and enjoy
the opportunity to be so deep in a wetland. Here is a Green Hooded Orchid blooming along the boardwalk. |
| This was another plant blooming along the boardwalk. A sign
labeled it Kieki or Freycinetia banksii . Named after the French
navigator Freycinet. Fruit is edible. I would have liked to have spent several hours wandering up and down the boardwalk by myself studying the plants and hoping for other birds. This of course cannot happen because the boat returns after about 45 minutes at the blind. Since the other participants are not birdwatchers they make a great deal of noise on the way to and from the blind. I suggest this trip only if you have time and money to spare. |
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| White Heron Sanctuary Tours PO Box 19 Whataroa NZ$89 2 hours |
Phone: 64 3 753 420 info@whiteherontour.co.nz www.whiteherontours.co.nz Make reservations in Franz Joseph at YHA |
Greymouth
I drove on to Greymouth for the night stopping along the way to tour something called Shanty Town NZ$11 which is reconstruction of a gold mining town from the 1860s. They have a working steam locomotive burning coal on which you can take a ride and watch the engineer stoking the fire box. A Weka walked around the train station. There are gold panning demonstration, a fire station with old equipment, and of course shops.
I came to Greymouth to see the Black Petrel colony at Punakaiki 40 Km north. Unfortunately I let the YHA manager talk me out of this. She was sure the reserve was closed. I later learned it was not and that baby Black Petrels were visible on the nest.
When I rented the car I had to give a date for leaving the south island and I am running out of time. I decided to spend the night at Arthur's Pass.
Arthur's Pass
It is the end of November and early summer in New Zealand. It is really uncomfortably hot on the west coast and I am anxious to get back to a cooler place. I drove south from Greymouth to the H73 and up through Otira Gorge stopping to look for the next target bird Blue Duck at every bridge and stream crossing. I had no luck with the duck but did see Black Shags and Redpolls. Of course there are Kea here too.
In Arthur's Pass I checked in at the YHA and went to the information center for maps. I walked the Bridal Falls Track about half way. I climbed up until I found a bench with a view into the upper story and sat down to wait. This strategy turned up the Rifleman and TomTit.
Once over the pass I started looked at braided channels for another target bird the Wrybill. It should be nesting on the many streams. I later realized that it is very hard to see this bird on the breeding grounds because they are very territorial and blend in so beautifully with the white rocks.
At Lake Pearson I had better luck turning up a pair of South Island Great Crested Grebes. There are only 250 of these birds left so I feel very lucky to have seen two.
I stayed at the Hanmer Spring YHA and went to the famous hot springs. For NZ$10 you can bath in the many pools at different temperatures. They advertise a lap pool, but when I got there it was filled with kids jumping in and out so couldn't be used for laps.
I went on to Kaikoura for three days before driving to Picton and taking the ferry to the north island.
End:New Zealand Fiordland & West Coast
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