Around The Lakes- Part 2

This'll be the last post for a few days, we're heading off the radar again. We're going back down the Milford Road to complete a few of the walks we missed the last time we were there and also check out how Fiordland National Park looks in a different season...both weather wise and visitor wise- wish us luck!


Now, continuing on from Part 1- 

It's a hot, dry and dusty track down to the Lake Tekapo waterfront…

Below is a photo from the other day, taken looking down on the bays we’re heading to. You can see the caravans- white dots- in the trees at the bottom of the road, centre left (click to enlarge the photo). It’s a huge area to explore and once over a shingle bank that separates the dried mudflats from the lake, the going is rough, stones, big rocks and boulders most of the way. I start to think there can’t possibly be any life along the barren lake edge when…

…swimming towards us come two grebes! They’re quite close and not at all afraid and although they don’t stop, they do turn around and follow us back along the lake edge.

Ahead of us we can see two South Island Oystercatchers resting on the very edge of the lake and behind them what appears to be a couple of chicks sitting on the sand. It’s not until we move a little closer and check through the binoculars again, that we can see that they’re not Oystercatcher chicks at all but two rare juvenile black stilts!! Yeehaa!

They let us get quite close before deciding to stand up…

…stretch their wings, do a little rearranging of their feathers before slowly moving off, scanning the waters edge for tasty morsels. What a thrill and they weren’t that much worried by our presence either, obviously used to humans, having been bred in captivity before being released into the wild. Both birds had a serious amount of leg bling on. As you can see in the bottom photo the grebes stopped to check out the stilts too.

We getting closer; first it was the black stilt with the hybrid partner and a chick on a farm pond near Lake Pukaki, they were a good couple hundred metres away. Then it was another black stilt with a hybrid mate on the other side of the Cass River, we saw that one a little closer when it flew overhead. And now two juvenile black stilts very close, hopefully the next sighting will be of an adult kaki at close quarters too.

We walked a little further on along the bay before deciding we’d turn just before the next bay and head for home, it was getting hotter by the minute and we still had a fair way to walk. Both the bays we were exploring were a much more vivid aqua blue than the rest of Lake Tekapo.

'Rock flour'- ground up glacial rock which causes this beautiful colour when it's suspended in the water- must be very concentrated here in these shallow little bays. Until there’s heavy rain, there’s nothing to wash it through.

Across the lake, I can see, once again, the bright yellow ribbon of broom I visited the other day with Lisa.

I walk back along the lake edge hoping for another glimpse of the stilts but they and the grebes have disappeared. I catch sight of movement in the rocks ahead of me and see a little bird darting about. I think it’s a banded dotterel until it gets close and it’s a great surprise to  find out that it’s a Wrybill.

We’ve seen the Wrybills at the Miranda in the Firth of Thames in the North Island where they migrate for the winter but none in the South Island until now. Wrybrills are a small plover and are endemic(found only in NZ) to New Zealand. They also breed only in the braided rivers of the South Island which makes them particularly vulnerable when the braided rivers become clogged with lupins.

And here's why this tiny little bird is extra special. The Wrybill is the only bird in the world with a laterally curved bill- and always curved to the right- which it uses to reach insect larvae under the round riverbed rocks. This is possibly a male, their breeding plumage includes, but not always, a black line above the forehead. This guy has a slight hint of one.

Wrybills usually allow a close approach and this little guy was no exception, I had to keep winding my zoom in as he got closer and passed just a metre away from where I was crouched. 

Happy with our very fruitful birding afternoon we headed back over the road and along the otherside of Lake McGregor and past the drowned willow forest, checking for more waterfowl as we walk. That’s when we catch sight of  movement in one of the trees, something running along one of the fallen branches, jumping from one to the next, climbing higher and higher.

I wonder if you can guess what I failed to catch in the blurred photo on the right? It’s a blasted weasel and it has a large unidentifiable chick in it’s mouth- that’s it, the dark inverted V on top of the branch, the left hand red arrow points to the chick being dragged along the branch at speed, the right arrow is the weasel's head. We lost track of it within seconds, I cursed the fact that I didn’t have my camera ready to go and cursed the weasel too. Bloody introduced pests! It was not a happy note to end the afternoon on.

Of course I couldn’t resist another lupin shot as we neared home, this patch growing between the road and the lake at the entrance to the camp.

On the hill above the lupins I spotted something attached to a power pole- someone with a sense of humour has adorned a sheep skull with sunglasses and fixed it to the pole.

It faces away from the road and the campground so unless you see the horns out the side of the pole you’d not know it was there.

Back at the van, as the afternoon draws to a close, I track a magpie pair over the roadside fence and along the hill to see why they have been harassing a black back gull that circles the area each afternoon. I can see them from inside the van and they chase and attack the gull each time it passes overhead. There are no trees nearby so they haven’t got a nest but I’m sure they’ll have a fledgling nearby that they are protecting. And sure enough sunning itself under a matagouri bush while it’s parents feed nearby, I find a magpie chick who isn’t too perturbed that I am approaching him.

He squawks loudly as I get nearer and I expect the parents to come racing over but they’re not worried and carry on rummaging about in the grasses on the otherside of the fence. He waits awhile and then walks off towards the fence still squawking loudly.

He’s not too steady with his wings but manages to fly to the top of the wire, calling constantly for his parents who still ignore him. He balances precariously on the wire and then nose-dives to the ground running off to another bush where he settles down again waiting for his parents to bring dinner to him. He was rather a cutie (and yes, I know he's a pest too).

On the way back to the van I flush out another late afternoon/early morning visitor to the large grassed area between the road and the campground, another teddy bear! He heads for the hill as fast as he can, launching himself through the barb-wired fence like there are no tomorrows.

I’ve spotted him and his mate (hares always seem to come in pairs) a few times from inside the van. They have been feeding on the lupins in the middle of the field, and using a couple of deep grassed ditches as escape routes back to the safety of the hill. But no matter how many times I try to sneak up on them, I always get a shot of their rear ends!

One day...

Around The Lakes- Part 1

After hearing from the camp custodian that there was good cellphone reception at the top of the hill between the two lakes, David had climbed to the top to make a call. He had then continued on around Lake McGregor looking for trout and grebes. A day or so later he suggested we do the walk and I added the shores of Lake Tekapo to the end of it; there was a possibility of seeing black stilts near the dried out mudflats on the edge of the lake.

It didn't take long to climb to the top where there was a magnificent 360 degree view. Here's a pano of Lake McGregor from the top of the hill- looking towards Lake Tekapo and the Two Thumb Range. Our van is parked just out of sight at the end of the willows on the far right.

In the other direction is Lake Alexandrina; a steep bank drops down to the boat sheds that sit on the lake edge below the cribs. The mountains in the background are part of Ben Ohau Range which borders the western side of Lake Pukaki all the way up to Mt Cook and the Southern Alps.

This is Lake Alexandrina, the pano is quite distorted as there’s no dip in the centre- I moved too fast through the scene as it was recording it. That’s David on the right scanning the lake with his binoculars. The cribs at the left are at the top of the hill and would have an amazing view over most of the lake although I think the ones at lake level would have a more interesting outlook with the stream, waterfowl, fishing and holiday activity.

This one's a more proportioned shot of David looking up Lake Alexandrina towards Mt Joseph (1682m) on the far left and Mt  Hazard (2213m) in the centre.

It’s hard to pull ourselves away from the stunning views out over Alexandrina but just a few short steps to the otherside of the hill top and the view is just as lovely over Lake McGregor. I catch sight of a puff of dust on the lake road…

… and zoom in to see a motorhome leaving.

David makes his way down the slope to the sheep track that runs around the edge of Lake McGregor. I follow, wondering if there’s any Banded Rails or Spotless Crake in the raupo swamp ahead of us, I'm pretty sure there must be a few grebe nests.

It’s not long before David stops and waits for me to catch up; he’d seen a skylark flying off and suspecting it was leaving a nest, tracked his way to the spot. Sure enough, he locates the well camouflaged nest with three eggs, hidden in the grasses. As we move off, the skylark is singing way up above us, just a dot in the blue sky.

We follow the sheep track around the lake edge and locate not one but two pair of grebes floating about just off the shore. We’re certain one pair have a nest in the reeds near the swamp in the photo above, because, as was the case with the Lake Alex. grebe pair, one was floating about near the edge and was then joined by it’s mate after we left the immediate area.

In the end we lost count, but before we left the lakes, we would have seen at least 10-12 pairs of gebes; 6 or 7 pair on Lake McGregor alone. Pretty good considering they are critically endangered. (And in case I've confused you, the grebe nest & chick post from the other day was after we left the area, we're still looking at this stage)

A little further on we came across a small flock of merino sheep and lambs who seemed surprised to see us and moved off up the hill at pace.

Later that afternoon, while we were exploring the edge of Lake Tekapo, we could hear from the same area, a farmer whistling and farm dogs barking. The next morning the flock of sheep were grazing on the banks of the stream just across from our van, the lambs looking a little dejected and sorry for themselves. The poor little things had red bums and no tails, some also had a docking ring on other delicate parts! Poor darlings :(

It wasn't long before David spotted a big Brown cruising along the shoreline and decided to try his luck...luck he must have left behind in the van.

Further on another fisherman was trying his luck in the drowned willow area of the lake. His best friend watched on from the comfort of the boot, looking totally bored...

Or perhaps sad that he couldn’t chase the hares (‘teddy bears') on the bank behind the car. I spotted them before they saw me and managed to creep up a little way before they took off together up the slope, both stopping briefly to check out the situation, before bounding off again and disappearing out of sight over the top of the hill. One day I’m going to manage a close up shot!

We stopped for lunch near the road, finding a rock to sit on, on a reclaimed piece of ground that must be there to help channel the water into the road culvert and on it’s way to Lake Tekapo behind. David scans the swamp for birdlife.

A male paradise duck stands watching as his mate & 6 or7 ducklings swim off into the tangle of willows- I can’t quite decide whether he standing guard or too lazy to swim after them (I think it’s the latter), a Australian coot takes a rest on a sunken log while another trout cruises past heading for the culvert. A male NZ Scaup tries to lead us away as his mate and  5 ducklings duck and dive under the willows. Scaups are very shy and these are the first ducklings we’ve seen that we can recall this spring; their paler markings are more brown compared with mallard ducklings.

After lunch we cross the road and head for the expansive dried mud flats along the edge of Lake Tekapo, passing more shuttered up caravans waiting for the summer holidays, on the way.

To be continued....

Lovely Lupins- MacKenzie Country

Finally a post where I can let the photos do the talking. And finally the wind stopped long enough for me to shoot some of the stunning colour combinations of the lupins (russell lupines), found in the McKenzie Basin.

Other than a few shots taken along the stream at Lake McGregor, most of these photos were taken in a small patch of lupins  growing near the cribs (see last photo) on the edge of Lake Alexandrina. Just the type of garden a holiday home needs; one that just outside the gate, needs no maintenance yet produces a stunning display just in time for the holiday season.

Don’t forget to click on the photos to enlarge, especially if you’re wanting to study the amazing colour combinations in greater detail.

I think this is a native soldier fly/namu which I found on one of the flower spikes; they feed on pollen.

That's it. I hoped you enjoyed your virtual display of the beautiful but often maligned, and not always welcome, flower. While it’s not the last of the lupins we’ll see on our travels, I’m thrilled to have had the chance finally to study and photograph the flowers in much greater detail than most people that visit the area to see them.