I had two days in the small town of Kaikoura to enjoy one of the best seabird locations in the world, with a couple of trips planned out to sea as well as plenty of time watching from headlands, where I hoped to use what I learned while out at sea from shore. Filled with excitement, I got up at first light and headed to the Kaikoura headland and was there to witness the throngs of seabirds flying past. It was quite the spectacle, but I could see why this was the case, and that was the dramatic seastate. For that reason it was not a surprise when I received a text message from my Whale Watching Trip in the afternoon that it had been cancelled. This was a sad development, as I could see all the birds passing by, but there was nothing I could do apart from reschedule for tomorrow and hope for the best.
Despite this, I still enjoyed a brilliant few hours birding
from the headland, with new birds for me in the form of Huttons Shearwater and
Bullers Shearwater. But that was just the birds I could identify that were new,
with throngs of Albatrosses passing by, Giant Petrels close in shore and black
petrels that could be either White-chinned Petrels or Westlands Petrels.
Despite not being able to identify many of the birds, it was certainly a
spectacle to witness.
By late morning things had slowed a little, so I headed
south along the coast to Goose Bay in order to try to find Dusky Dolphin. On
the way, just at the north end of the bay I could see masses of birds feeding
offshore, which on closer inspection were mostly Silver Gulls and White-fronted
Terns. However, all this excitement made me think that Dolphins could be in the
area, and sure enough so it transpired, with a pod of around 30 Dusky Dolphins
soon making an appearance. They were a lot of fun, frequently jumping out of
the water but always distant. In the end, they moved further away, but I had got
brilliant views through the scope.
Satisfied with my day, I headed back to my campsite
mid-afternoon on the way checking a few of the river mouths in the area for anything
interesting. The first, the Kahutara River Mouth had plenty of birds, but
nothing super different. The highlight was probably a group of close Pied
Stilts feeding, or a family of Californian Quails I flushed when I pulled into
the car park. The next river mouth, the Kowhai, had much fewer birds but a good
number of Black-fronted Terns roosting on the shingle. I was able to creep very
close to some of these birds, including a very tidy juvenile bird.
In the evening, after a nap, I headed back to the headland
for some evenings Seawatching. By now the wind had dropped and so there were
fewer birds passing. Still I was able to pick up some more bits, including my
first Cape Petrel, a species I had been looking for throughout the whole trip
but not managed to spot until now. With winds forecast to drop tomorrow,
fingers crossed I can make it out on a boat and get closer to some of these
awesome species.
Kaikoura: Canada Goose, Paradise Shelduck, Mallard, California Quail, Feral Pigeon, Pied Stilt, South Island Oystercatcher, Variable Oystercatcher, Masked Lapwing, Double-banded Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Parasitic Jaeger, Silver Gull, Kelp Gull, Caspian Tern, Black-fronted Tern, White-fronted Tern, Northern Royal Albatross, Southern Royal Albatross, Shy Albatross, Northern Giant Petrel, Cape Petrel, Buller's Shearwater, Hutton's Shearwater, Australasian Gannet, Little Pied Cormorant, Spotted Shag, Australian Pied Cormorant, Pacific Reef Heron, White-faced Heron, New Zealand Bellbird, Grey Gerygone, Eurasian Skylark, Welcome Swallow, Silvereye, Common Starling, Common Blackbird, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Eurasian Chaffinch, European Goldfinch, Yellowhammer,
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