Birding Bonanza, Stewart Island- Part 1

Real-time

We're back on the Mainland, back to our home on wheels and still parked on the family's front lawn in Winton. We had a fabulous time on Stewart Island/Rakiura and enjoyed every minute even though the weather was a little fickle. After the initial 2 days of solid rain, the sun came and went as regularly as the rain showers. One day it was hot and sunny, the next cold and blowing a gale. Thankfully we went prepared with our wet-weather gear and as long as we had that on board we were good to go. 

If you are into birds and tramping, then Stewart Island is the place to go. We were in seventh heaven with the amount of bird life we saw and how close we were able to get to a lot of it. And with so many walking tracks both around town and further afield there's plenty to keep you occupied. I'll do some more posts on Stewart Island later but in the meantime here's one for the birds....I mean on the birds!

Of course the kaka and their antics kept me occupied whenever we were in our unit at Kaka Retreat, they are such characters. 

I can see how people fall in love and want a parrot for a pet, I wanted to bundle one up(a gentle one) and take it home! I was taking a photo of a kereru when this photobombing kaka's face appeared in my viewfinder.

They are quite endearing although you do need a healthy dose of caution around those beaks. After a few quick nips I became very wary, I don't think they meant to hurt it was more frustration. I think if they had meant to be nasty they'd have had my finger off, the pressure behind a small nip was amazing- my finger knuckle ached for an hour or so afterwards.  I managed to find some distinguishing feathers on a few of the gentler birds and allowed them to get close each time they visited.

I hadn't realised that not only are the Kaka Beak plants named after them because of the shape of the flower but the bird also eats the flowers. I'm not sure if they're getting the nectar or just playing with the flower. They didn't take them off just shredded the petals a bit.

We have never seen as many Kereru/NZ Wood Pigeon in such numbers as we did on Stewart Island and especially around Oban village. 

Dozens and dozens of pigeons flying here, there and everywhere, the sky overhead was a constant sound of swoosh, swoosh, swoosh as they flew from tree to tree and garden to garden feeding on a variety of ripe berries in the bush. Often they'd crash land in the undergrowth or drop through from the trees above, bumbling about looking for food or chasing rivals away. More than a few times we were startled by a fat pigeon flapping out of a thick bush at head height. If they'd stayed still we'd be none the wiser that they were there. When it rained they were perched in large numbers on the power lines looking very much like over-sized starlings.  

Also enjoying the fruiting bush were Bellbirds/Korimako- here's a male on a Fushia tree... 

And a female with a berry from a Māpou bush...

Quite often we'd stand beside a thicket of bush listening to all the different noises coming from the depths and wait to see what emerged. Often there'd be all of the above birds along with tui, warblers, fantails, tomtits, parakeets and brown creepers amongst others. All feeding, chattering and stumbling about in the bush. Many of the birds had fledgling chicks with them which of course added to the noise. It was certainly a good time to visit because the chicks calling for food often lead us to them and the parents.

One of the first excursions we wanted to do was to Ulva Island/Te Wharawhara, an open bird sanctuary just offshore in Paterson Inlet. After two days of rain and then one of gale force winds we finally decided to try for Ulva the following day. The ferry leaves for the island at 9am and we were up bright and early hoping to catch the first crossing. We had to walk down the hill into the village and then haul ourselves up the short steep climb and over into Golden Bay where the jetty was located. 

We were first in line, paid our $20 each, received our boarding pass; a leaf from the aptly named Muttonbird Scrub and boarded the small ferry. Although it was relatively calm over on the village side of the island, the wind hadn't dropped at all in the inlet. It was wild and rough with squall after squall passing through.

The skipper zipped up the boat's back curtain and told us to hang onto our hats we were in for a rough ride and that usually it was a 10 minute ride to Ulva, today it was going to be 20 minutes! A couple of passengers looked a little nervous. Waves were crashing over the top of the boat as we bounced across the gap between the islands. Unfortunately when we got to the jetty, the swell and waves were just too big for this little boat. The skipper tried to edge into the jetty and then back up to it but the waves kept crashing over the top of us and there'd be no way we could have jumped off the boat with the swell heaving the boat up and down. The skipper made the decision to return to base. 

Back on dry land we made decision not to board the slightly bigger water taxi which was able to land that day; the wind was picking up and rain clouds were forming on the horizon. We wanted a more settled day to explore Ulva, so we said goodbye and decided to head home via a nearby walk around the bays. From a vantage point on the walk we could see the water taxi (top right & bottom above) heading back from Ulva. We heard later that that our skipper was very experienced and had been doing this run for many years and that this was possibly the first time he'd called off a landing.

Later we also got caught in the the most violent rain and wind storm we've ever had while walking, we were about 5kms from home, the rain was horizontal and stung like a thousand needles on our faces. We arrived home totally drenched and cold through to the bone. It would have been no fun on Ulva. 

Post Office Bay, Ulva Island

A couple of days later we made the journey again, this time arriving at Post Office Bay, Ulva Island on a sunny and relatively calm day, although the wind did pick up again later on. Just under 8ha of the 260ha island is privately owned, part of it being here in this bay.

The post office was built in 1872 and used until 1923. There was only one family living here on the island but the irregular mail boat stopped at Ulva to offload the mail for the many families that lived in the sawmilling, boat building and fishing settlements around the inlet and on other islands. A flag would be raised at the nearby Flagstaff Point to indicate the mail had arrived and workers and families would row or sail to Ulva to collect their post. This also became a social occasion as people caught up with friends.

The tracks on Ulva Island are well maintained and signposted. There's a choice of four walks of varying lengths to do depending on mobility and time and they are all linked so you can cover the whole area in a quick three and half hours. We were there for the 6 hours, wanting to take our time exploring and tracking birds. Public access is only to a small peninsula section of the island which includes three beaches where sealions can sometimes be found sunbathing.

Our first sighting was of a juvenile Brown Creeper/Pīpipi who was calling for his mum (or helper) who came flying in with some food. I did learn something new about the Brown Creeper; only the dominant male & female in the flock will breed and a number of helpers assist with feeding the chicks.

We saw the usual suspects many times over; bush robins, warblers, kaka, wood pigeons, rifleman, silvereyes, fantails, tomtits, weka, tui, bellbirds, oyster catchers, terns and gulls. But there were a couple of birds we were keen to sight. The first was the endangered  Mohua/Yellowhead which is found only in the South Island and then only in small pockets of forest in the Catlins, Fiordland and on Stewart Island. 

Mohua are closely related to Whiteheads (which are only found in the North Island) and Brown Creepers, all three species are the preferred hosts of the long-tailed cuckoo. The male Yellowhammer(introduced) is often mistaken for a Yellowhead but the Yellowhammer never enters the forest and a Yellowhead never leaves it. Plus I think the Mohua is a much more handsome bird.

It was a thrill to find our first small noisy flock not long after arriving on Ulva. This was our very first sighting of the yellowhead although we have heard them in the Catlins before. They usually spend most their time in the forest canopy but here on Ulva (where there are no predators) they also forage in the lower canopy and on the forest floor. The flock called to each other incessantly, the females have a distinctive "buzz" and they all move at a fast pace through the bush, often with a posse of other bird species following along scavenging disturbed insects and bugs.

This family group had  approx. 6-7 birds and included at least two and probably three (they were hard to count moving so quickly) hungry and demanding fledglings- that's a baby on the right below. These two birds were right on the edge of the track at head height and although I tried my best, the bush was once again very dark, so many of the photos are a bit noisy (grainy) because of the high ISO.

Mohua, like the Brown Creeper, also have helpers.

The fledglings were keen to learn where their food was coming from, staying on the tree trunks long after the adults has left. Mohua have spikey tails which they use as a prop while hanging on to the side of a trunk while digging around for food. It was a thrill to finally see Mohua and to be able to spend quite a bit of time observing and following them through the bush.

I was also pleased to add another native orchid to my 'have seen' list; the delicately draped and tiny "Lady's Slipper Orchid".

We've seen Red-crowned Parakeets/Kākāriki on many occasions but never this close in the wild and in so many numbers. There were plenty of red-crowned parakeets on Stewart Island too, every morning & evening we would hear their high-pitched chatter as small flocks passed overhead. 

Here on Ulva we often found pairs resting on low branches just off the track, foraging on the path or poking about in hollow tree trunks at ground level.

Another bird we wanted to tick off our virtual list was the much rarer Yellow-crowned Parakeet/Kākāriki, I'd heard they sometimes hang out with their red-crowned cousins and we soon found one of each perched in a tree together.

How exciting is that! And not only did we see one yellow-crowned, we saw several during our visit. 

Not long after we arrived on Ulva we heard a familiar call and we were both quick to identify it, the distinctive call of the Saddleback/Tīeke. We've seen Saddlebacks on a few predator free islands in the North Island, most notably on Mokoia Island in the middle of Lake Rotorua and also in Zealandia in Wellington. But this is the South Island Saddleback and they are distinct from their North Island counterparts in that it takes up to 18 months for their feathers to develop the black colouring and red 'saddle' of the adult birds. Later, on another track, we located a family of two adults and two juveniles (aka 'jackbirds') feeding on the forest floor. They are fast movers, digging under the moss and rotten trees and while not afraid of people, they tend to head off in the opposite direction when they spot you. 

While I was waiting on a seat for David to return to the jetty, this inquisitive and very friendly Stewart Island Robin/Toutouwai came to say good-bye. It reminded me of my little buddy at Mavora Lakes. There were dozens of friendly robins along the tracks, we helped them find grubs and insects by scraping aside the leaf litter whenever we stopped to say hello. They all seemed plumper and darker than their South Island cousins, although this guy wasn't so dark.

We thoroughly enjoyed Ulva Island and actually visited it twice during our stay, the second time the day was overcast and cool and the birds weren't nearly as active as on our first visit. But we were able to spend a bit more time sitting and listening and following a few of our favourite species a little more closely. 

And we had the added bonus of seeing a preening Yellow-eyed Penguin/Hoiho on the ride back to the wharf. Yellow-eyed penguins are resident around Stewart Island and our skipper said he only saw them in the water once or twice every couple of months or so. The penguin quickly disappeared below the surface when he spotted us watching him.

To be continued....Part 2

A Cool Little Town- Hokitika

I stole the slogan for Hokitika because, well, it is a cool little town! We both have taken a liking to Hokitika, it a lovely place with plenty to see and do in town and the surrounding area.

Our next stop after Lake Kaniere was at the Shining Star Beachfront Accommodation at the northern end of Hokitika, this was so I could do a whole heap of laundry (there was no way I was going back to THAT laundromat) and dry things out after all the rain we had had at the lake. Shining Star is a combined campground with cabins and motel units set in spacious grounds with a small animal park and access to the beach. The sites were rather small but we managed to squeeze into one at the end of a row. It was a busy place, not only were all cabins & motels full every night, most of the powered sites were taken too- a lot of hire vans just in for the night.

Right outside our door was a flowering bottlebrush which a Bellbird/Korimako visited frequently- he was a little hesitant at feeding on the van side of the bush but I managed to grab a couple of good shots of him before he departed. I'm sure he is in his 'happy place' in the first shot.

Across the main road from the campground, up a short gravel track and tucked into a damp dark cliff face is the Glow-worm Dell, a free and popular attraction that has been there for many years. During the day it’s a dark alcove with a beaten up fence, moss and creeper covered walls & a small waterfall. But come night fall, the surrounding walls came alive with thousands of tiny lights from the glow-worms; it looked like a sparkly Milky-Way (yes, really. Look hard). I failed in my attempt to shoot the glow-worm lights, just a few faint sparkles.

Unfortunately I left it too late, it was far too dark and there were too many people arriving to try for a longer exposure. In such a small place I was worried my tripod was going to get bumped and people were waving their torches all over the show which turned the glow-worm lights off. I thought I might try again the next evening but guess what? It rained! And the next night too. So I’ll have to wait until the next ‘Dell’ we come across to try again.

We stayed at Shining Star until the rain stopped and then re-located to the south end of town, to the NZMCA Hokitika South Bank Park which is located funnily enough on the south bank of the very wide Hokitika River. Out in the countryside but still very handy to town. This was also a new record for moving sites, just 2kms down the road!

It’s just a long walk across the bridge and you’re in town. That’s the Park on the right at the end of the bridge. The ‘kiwi’ was located in a shingle pile beside the gate- someone with a sense of humour and a little vision- I thought it was a shoe cleaning brush from a distance! The old cow shed is in the paddock behind the Park and makes a lovely silhouette as the sun sets.

I had some family business to do in Hokitika; my father’s maternal aunty and her husband lived in Hokitika all their adult lives (before they passed on) and I wanted to visit Dad’s first cousin who still lives nearby in Ruatapu. I remember from my childhood Dad telling us about his auntie's house at the end of the Hokitika road-rail bridge and watching a 1960's home movie of cars waiting for a train to pass through. The old Hokitika Bridge was replaced in 1991 by this bridge- it followed the same course- and after talking to Roger (Dad’s cousin), the NZMCA Park is just up the road from where the house was located- the house was destroyed in a fire a number of years ago.

Roger told us of a trick he and his mate used to play at night. They would cycle into town over the bridge- I think he said it was nearly a mile long- they would cycle beside each other with their lights on and the people in the cars at the other end, who had to give way on the one way bridge, would think it was a car crossing and they’d wonder why it was taking so long until the boys got within sight when a lot of cursing and fist waving went on.

It certainly is a long bridge, with expansive views of the river down to the mouth and across to Sunset Point. I walked into town to take some photos of the beach and historic buildings.

The iconic HOKITIKA driftwood sign appears at the end of the walkway, from the main street to the beach. It appears on all the promotional material for Hokitika and usually with the brilliant colours of a stunning sunset behind it. I’ll have to see if I can replicate it later in the week.

On the beach in front of the sign are the remnants of the annual driftwood sculpture competition which was held about 6 weeks ago. Only the sturdier works-of-art have survived the battering of a west coast beach. A memorial concrete ‘comfy’ chair sits nearby- visiting tourists use it as a prop as they take photos of the sign and beach.

The ‘Before I Die’ bucket list is a worldwide art initiative that encourages people to contribute the things they want to achieve before they depart this world. I like the wag who contributed the second to last entry on the board- Before I die I want to....buy a rain poncho-  they were obviously here the same time as us! One of the other entries said they wanted to buy waterproof shoes.

I did come back for sunset but missed the best night of all when the sky was a blaze of fiery reds and golds- I’ll save them for another post. And I even missed the boat on this shot, arriving seconds after the golden ball disappeared below the horizon. The trick is to catch it in the centre of the 'o'.

The Whitebaiter’s Walk is located on a grass reserve at the entrance to the town, it's a visual history of whitebait.

There are 26 large boards with whitebait facts, figures, sayings and photos of the tiny little delicacy known as ‘white gold’.

I expected there to be a big whitebait mounted on a stone pile; a bit like the big salmon or big carrot in other towns. After all, Hokitika is the home of the whitebait but then again it’s the home of jade (greenstone or ponamu), home of the Wildfood Festival & home of the Driftwood Sculpture so it would probably get a little crowded with all those vying for attention at the entrance to the town. The best way to celebrate whitebait is to walk across the road from the Walk and buy yourself a whitebait fritter from the fish ‘n chip shop.

The right hand photo on the second row shows registered whitebait stands on Mokihinui River, not necessarily current). That's a very short stretch of river, the road on the right bank is the one we traveled down when we stayed at the Gentle Annie campground on our way to the top of the West Coast. This was just one of the rivers shown on the board, others were just as crowded.

I've posted this board separate so you can read the impressive size of the catch back in 1944. It's a wonder there are any whitebait left (click to enlarge).

Hokitika’s Memorial Clock Tower takes centre stage in the town. The clock tower also serves as the South African War Memorial and was unveiled in 1903. Hokitika celebrated its 150th birthday back in December.

Some of Hokitika’s historic buildings- three former banks and a movie theatre.

From left to right- the art deco Regent Theatre, former Government & Courthouse Building with a statue of Sir Richard Seddon (NZ Prime Minister 1893-1906), former Custom House on the banks of the Hokitika River, the museum is housed in the historic Carnegie Library Building, opened in 1908 and funded by US steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. And the precious little Revell Street Cottage.

Another wit in town- this was across the road from the All Saints Anglican Church I was photographing.

And once again I say, this will likely be the last post for a few days. We're moving on into Arthurs Pass later today.....if the rain stops! 

Kaniere Canaries

In this, the last post from Lake Kaniere, I wanted to share with you a few of the lovely bird shots I took. Our birds might not sing like canaries but they all have their own special tunes.

Of course my favourite little bird is first. This tiny adorable male South Island Tomtit (Maori name Miromiro) was full of spunk, he wasn’t afraid to let you know you were intruding in his patch. Just because he’d chosen part of the DOC campground as his territory didn’t mean he was going to vacate it when it became overrun with campers, dogs, cars, boats & caravans. He just had more things to hang from or use as vantage points in his hunt for bugs and intruders. Often I saw him sitting on the very top point of a gazebo or tent, on boat rod holders, camp tables and even the satellite dish on a bus.

I’d hear his sweet little song as he rested in the bush near our van and then his high pitched alarm call rang out when I stepped outside- this was good because I could then get a fix on him and follow him from spot to spot as he flew the circuit of his territory. He caught a number of caterpillars in this tree, bashing them on a branch to soften them up before swallowing them whole.

He kept up the attack on his reflection in any car mirror or shiny window as he had done on the day we arrived. Every day he would spend five minutes or so flapping at the reflection before giving up and moving on. Until his next circuit.

It must be a thing with Tomtits because you might remember we first saw it happen when a female Tomtit attacked the ute mirror when we were driving up the Arrow River to Macetown.

After all the rain we had, you would have thought that a tiny little bird would have had enough of water. Not this little guy, he had a ball (bath) in this muddy puddle for at least 5 minutes.

And here is his mate- well actually it’s not, but it is a female South Island Tomtit, they are much less confiding than their male counterparts. This one was very cautious and even though she came in close she made sure she always had a branch between me and her.

The camp was full of Bellbirds/Korimako feeding on the berries of the many sub-alpine trees that grew around camp. Usually the bellbird has a very melodious song but going by the weird squawking we quite often heard, the juveniles have a lot of trouble learning to sing in tune. They do practice alot though which helps me locate them in the thick branches. This juvenile wasn’t too worried about me standing underneath him, I think he was glad of the audience. In between trying to perfect his singing ability he was filling his belly with mingimingi berries.

There were also a number of large Mahoe (aka Whiteywood) bushes, they were usually full of noise as the Bellbirds, Tuis, Silvereyes, along with a few introduced bird such as Blackbirds had a feast feeding on the plentiful supply of small purple berries.

There were about ten weka around camp- although two died while we were there- we’re not too sure how, they could have been ill or it could have been one of the 15 or so dogs that were in camp over Easter. Once again the sign said ‘no dogs allowed’ and once again nobody took a blind bit of notice.

I know a lot of people think weka are pesky buggers (and they are) but I’m quite fond of them; they have a heap of character to go with their inquisitive nature. A solid beak (that they often poke where it’s not wanted) and strong legs (to carry them off faster than the shoe that whistles past their head).

One day after Easter and after the camp ground had cleared out, I happened to look out the back window and there down near the bottom of the road was a small black ball of fluff snuffling about on the grass verge. I couldn’t believe my eyes, surely not, not another possum out in daylight (you’ll remember we saw a possum on our walk at Cave Creek).

I grabbed my camera and crept down the edge hiding behind some rocks on the way. He didn’t move until I got within a couple of metres of him, when he got a bit of a fright and stumbled off into the undergrowth. He then tried to climb up the flax. Of course that didn’t work, he just shredded the leaves with his massive claws and slid back to the bottom where he just sat there staring at me.

I left him alone thinking he must be ill and would probably die in the next day or two. Especially after the torrential rain we had for the next two days, but no, the next day at about the same time I saw him out on the verge again. Then he slowly made his way up the road casually grazing along the way. He spent alot of time stripping the leaves off a large dock plant before moving on and then making his way down another path.

On the third day, he was starting to look like a drowned rat and he had lost the little bit of fear he had, not even bothering to stop eating as we approached. I gave David a piece of banana to feed him and he scoffed it, checking around for more as soon as it was gone. Ok, Ok, I know, don’t shout at me. But how could I not feel sorry for this cute little fellow even though I know he is one of the most destructive imported pests in New Zealand.

By the fourth day, he was following me up the road. And not stopping when I got down low to take a photo! Perhaps he had been someone’s pet? Although I think unlikely, his ears had a few war wounds so maybe he was just old and being nocturnal, his eyesight would have been impaired by the light.

We were leaving on the fifth day so I checked around by the flax bush where he had appeared each afternoon to see if I could see where he was asleep. I felt rather sad for him, he was curled up in a ball at the base of the flax, out in the open with the rain falling on him. He hadn’t even tucked himself in under the bush in the dark. At first I thought he was dead but he stirred when he heard me and then went back to sleep. So maybe he was sick……or it was too early to get up. We certainly don’t get bored on this journey, there’s always something unusual happening around us.

There are a number of short walks around the lake including the Canoe Cove Rimu Forest Walk which ended on a small beach with a sheltered cove tucked around the corner.

It was a thrill to find quite a number of Sky-Blue Mushrooms or Blue Pinkgill (Entoloma hochstetteri) alongside the track. While not rare they are more frequently found in the Coromandel (North Island) and West Coast (South Island) areas of New Zealand. A blue mushroom is quite rare in the world though, New Zealand, and of all places, India are the only countries that have this bright blue fungi.

With a conical shape it does look like something out of a fairy tale and the lush green backdrop of the moss simply adds to the expectation that a fairy or elf is about to emerge from behind one.

And while hunting for more Sky-Blues we found other fungi, not in such a brilliant colour though but interesting all the same. In the bottom left is the birds nest fungus- a tiny fungi no bigger than my little fingernail, the small brown dots are the spores(‘pills’) that have been splashed out of the ‘nest’ by rain once the top has fallen free. The white helmet fungus on the top right is also very small, & delicate. I have no idea about the weird coral looking fungus in the top left and in the bottom right the fungi were whiter than white, almost opaque.

Another short walk was the Kahikatea Forest Walk through virgin kahikatea forest. Kahikatea like having wet feet so some of the track is along a boardwalk over swampy land. Once the track leaves the boardwalk and moves deeper into the dark and damp forest, the trees are literally dripping in moss.

Towards the end the forest opens up again and we can see why, once again we see the destruction that has been caused by Cyclone Ita. Rather than the Beech trees we’ve seen elsewhere, it’s huge rimu trees that have been ripped out of the ground here. Back at the carpark we talk to a guy who is working at preparing the rimu to be lifted out by helicopter- it’s taken a year for consent to be granted to remove this valuable wood from conservation land and if they don’t start lifting it out soon it will spoil. He heads off into the bush with his chainsaw and we can hear another one off in the distance.

And a few days later and the night before we were due to leave, DOC arrived with a van load of road cones to block off our area of the camp. An Iroquois helicopter was going to start lifting out the logs the next day and it was going to be landing at the camp to refuel. As we were due to leave anyway, we stayed in our spot overnight and moved the cones into place the next morning for them.

We might have been tempted to shift the van over to another site and stay and watch but the weather was still not that great; David had to pack the boat up in the pouring rain. We decided it was time to move on. We both loved Lake Kaniere, is was one of the prettiest lakes we’ve visited, it was just a pity the weather wasn’t a little better given the two weeks we spent there.