Up and leaving the Coromandel Peninsula
early, but not before dropping a few more pie crumbs at the local bakery. Oliver’s definitely do a good pie, but there
is more to come in the botoom of the South Island! Another beautiful sunny day and we headed
back up and across the mountain range.
We decided it was worth while calling back to see if we could find any
bittern this morning. We checked a
couple of likely spots, but nothing, and then at our best spot we all stood and
scanned. Not looking good guys…theres
one! Awesome, there was a bird feeding
on the side of a small pool, within seconds it was in the scope and everybody
was on to it. We all had good views of
it, before a harrier flew over and pied stilts were getting agitated. The bittern froze and raised its head
straight up, and then moments later took flight. It landed a little way away, but was still
visible for some time, so all in all an excellent result.
We then started a long trek in to Pureora
Forest. We passed through some lovely
rolling countryside, and before long had enetered into falcon country. Pretty much the rest of the trip we are in
falcon country, but the first day or so is always exciting and eyes are
constantly scanning. They can turn up
anywhere so no chance for day-dreaming!
We made it to Pureora around midday and
setup for lunch. I commented that a
falcon was bound to turn up whilst somebody was in the bathroom…there was
definitely some hesitation in using it.
We ate our lunch in the sunshine, getting good views of tomtit feeding
nearby, silvereye, whitehead, etc and hearing yellow-crowned parakeet. Then the last person to use the bathroom was
in there and a falcon flew towards us, then circled almost above us, and then
drifted off to the south. Luckily it hung
around long enough for Lee to make it out and get a good view, of what was
probably a female. Love it when a plan
comes together.
We then decided to head for a short walk,
on the way stopping at another likely spot for falcon or long-tailed
cuckoo. Strangely there were no cuckoo
calling, and only the odd shining cuckoo distantly heard during the day. We did the walk and Lee had been wanting to
see a peripatus (velvet worm – a very strange request and not something we get
asked for often!). The pressure was on,
as although I have seen them before I have only done so on a couple of
occasions. I flipped open a piece of
rotten log, searched, nothing. Ripped
another piece off and BINGO! There was a
peripatus in all its inch-long glory! Of
course getting good views of something like this is not too hard, so everyone
got a good look, and we even saw it shoot a bunch of its sticky threads, very
cool.
We had great views of kaka, and glimpsed
and heard a few yellow-crowned parakeets, but they were not showing
themselves. Still no cuckoo calling we
drove a couple of the roads stopping in strategic places, and then as we drove
along another falcon came towards us flying with a prey item in its
talons. It was seen briefly, but we
stopped and watched for a while in case it appeared again or called, but
nothing.
So it was time to head for Taupo, keeping a
keen eye out, and on the way we had New Zealand scaup and common coot. Dinner in Taupo was another feast, before
much needed bed!
Bird
of the day – tomtit x1, silvereye x1, bittern x4,
peripatus x1, falcon x2
Day
total – Seen
= 50 + 2 heard (shining bronze-cuckoo, dunnock); new for the trip = 5; total
for the trip to date = 111 |
| Waiting for the falcon! |
 |
| "Bill! Silvereye!" |
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