This
morning dawned a little calmer and with a little more blue sky than the
previous day! We were up, breakfasted
and on the road, collecting lunch as we headed back to give the kookaburra site
one last attempt. And, boom! There were two birds, one on a post and the
other nearby on the ground! Turning the
vehicle around we had good looks at this massive kingfisher, before happily
heading towards Gulf Harbour.
We
did a little touring around the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, checking a few beaches
for reef egrets and other bits and bobs, but no luck on the reef egrets. We did have nice views of California quail
though, a little consolation. We then
arrived at the Gulf Harbour wharf as the ferry arrived, loaded our gear and
headed across to Tiritiri Matangi Island.
A very quiet crossing, we actually didn’t see a single tube-nosed
seabird, nor a penguin…oh well!
On
Tiritiri Matangi, we disembarked, attended the arrival briefing and then loaded
all our gear into the truck, whilst we walked up towards the bunkhouse. Red-crowned parakeet, whitehead, bellbird,
tui, Stitchbird, all were seen reasonably quickly. Then robin, pigeon, all the likely suspects
were seen pretty easily. We then heard
there was a Takahe on the road, just up towards the bunkhouse, so we legged it
up there, and managed to spot the bird just as it came out of the vegetation on
the side of the road. Great views of
this almost prehistoric bird.
We
then headed back down and continued along the trail. Lots more birds seen, and then the call of a
kokako carried over the air. We waited,
searching the nearby trees through a tangle of vegetation…nothing…nothing, and
then a bird bounded in towards us, followed shortly after by another bird. We had pretty decent views of the birds,
before they then bounded off away from us…let’s hope we could find some more to
build on the views had.
Carrying
on along the trail we had more saddleback, amongst other things, and then
unpacked our gear at the bunkhouse, sorted bedding, and then had lunch. After lunch, a quick shopping trip to the
gift shop, and then back out onto the trails to find more birds. Again we had excellent views of pretty much
everything, including more views of kokako feeding on leaves – this time much
better more prolonged views. We also had
fantastic views of three spotless crakes on two different ponds, two of them
adults, and one a juvenile being chased by an adult. Even managed a few photos, and everyone was
happy.
We
had a beautiful BBQ dinner back at the bunkhouse, steak, lamb chops, salad and
potatoes, and even a little dessert. Of
course, more than a little wine! Then it
was time to head out and find some nocturnal action. We headed out along the trails, and as it got
dark things started to happen. A couple
of morepork called, but we couldn’t find them, then the kiwi started to
call. There seemed to be a lot of
calling activity, so a promising start.
We heard another morepork, and this time it came right in, fluttered
over us and then flew off. We were in
the process of looking for it when we realised there was a kiwi on the road
right by us. It showed well, but
briefly, and not everyone saw it…damn!
We kept wandering and finally almost back at the bunkhouse, some more
familiar rustling, and this time fantastic views of a male little spotted
kiwi. We watched it feed for several
minutes before it headed off into thicker vegetation…awesome! So off to bed we headed, with dreams of kiwi
all round!
Day total – Seen = 50 + 2 heard (Eastern
rosella, silvereye); new for the trip = 12; total for the trip to date = 92
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