The Birds of Cascade Creek

I finally managed to  get some reasonably decent shots of the rifleman- titiponaumu at Cascade Creek. These tiny little birds with heaps of character are fast becoming my favourites. There were a number of family groups that lived on the bush edge beside our camp at Cascade Creek, along with tomtits- miromiro & bush robin- toutouwai, so I was able to spend a few hours on various days tracking them and understanding their habits. Whenever, by chance, two family groups met on their respective territory boundaries they would let their guard down to chase each other away. Too fast for me to catch on the camera but they made me laugh as they'd fly right past me just a few inches away where usually they'd give me a wide berth hiding under the branches or running up the opposite side of the trunk to where I was.

Each group, usually a male, female & one or two juveniles had quite a small territory and they worked it from end to end checking under and along branches and climbing tree trunks in search of food. Occasionally they would scout around on the ground all the while keeping in touch with each with a high pitched peep. It was this peep that alerted me to their presence and although quite hard to spot if I kept still long enough I’d catch a movement. It was then easier to follow them through the branches.

So here are some of my better captures (shutter speed & ISO noise still caused a few issues on a some but I’m getting there);

Down by the river at the far end of the camp was an area where quite a number of motorhomes parked each night. One had stopped early and the couple had gone for a walk. I was sitting at the BBQ table (fighting off the sandflies) and waiting for the rifleman to move to a large tree above me. Instead they flew down to the recently arrived van and, like the rifleman at Mavora Lakes, started checking it over for dead bugs. The female made me smile when I saw her stretching tall to grab bugs off the end of the mudguard.

And just like the Mavora birds she also flew over to the fire pit to check out the cold embers.

And then out flew a gorgeous little tomtit, flitting about catching insects on the wing. He sat on the tip of a rock and launched himself off it everytime he spotted another tasty morsel and then fly across the road to land on the roadside weeds. Back & forward he flew in the late afternoon sun catching dinner.

Next to make an appearance right beside me was a tui. It flew into a bush and then jumped out and onto the ground chasing what looked like a small piece of paper. He threw it in the air a couple of times and chased it across the ground grabbing it again before finally realising he was being watched and flew off. It still looked like a bit of paper but I wonder whether it may have been a butterfly wing or something. Very weird.

 And of course I must not forget the friendliest of all the birds at Cascade Creek; the bush robin.

Family Surprise

You’re never going to believe what today had in store for us, New Zealand is a very small place indeed, well I already knew that but still….. 

We left Tairei Mouth late morning with heading for somewhere near the top of the Catlins. The Catlins, for those that don’t know, is an area on the southern east of the South Island that is well known for its isolated beauty, windswept rugged coastline & incredible wild life; seals, sea lions, penguins & seabirds amongst others. There are also amazing rock formations, caves, petrified forest, historic lighthouses & shipwrecks. This is where the Southern Ocean sweeps up from the Antarctic and pounds the coastline, it can be cold & bleak but it’s always beautiful. 

We aren’t going to be “doing” the Catlins just yet though, the coastline is about 160kms long and it would be just as easy for us to follow the road around to Invercargill but we don’t want to pre-empt the visit, we will be back for a few weeks to gradually take our time to explore the area once we have spent time with the family in Invercargill. But, we thought we might just have a couple of days as a taster at the top of the area before we head across country & down to Invercargill where we are expected this weekend. 

So there were two or three areas that we thought we could stop at & we narrowed it down to Surat Bay where there was a campground we liked the look of & it was also very close to a sea lion colony.

But before we got there & after leaving Tairei Mouth, we stopped once again in Waihola (Lake Waihola, the place we both decided against staying at) where the other day I had seen a small shop selling fresh fish. The shop was obviously very popular as there was a steady stream of people calling in buying fresh fish or ordering fish & chips for lunch. This shop had blue cod, lots of blue cod. Imagine that those up there in the North Island, you could have blue cod as your fish of choice with your fish & chips! Blue cod that only appears in the supermarket or fish monger in Tauranga about twice a year! And then as piddling little fillets with a giant sized price tag!

 

 

We’re making up for lost time, we’ve certainly had our fill of blue cod lately, at Fleurs Place, at the Moeraki Pub, as fillets I've bought at the supermarket (twice) and now today where I bought enough for dinner tonight & two packages to go in the freezer. I also bought some sole fillets, one of David’s favourite fish & my favourite when it’s been filleted! We also decided we’d have fish & chips for lunch, the smell always does that when you’re hungry. This time we chose trumpeter & brill fillets to go with the chips, two more new fish for us to try. And then we took our fish & chip bundle down to the lake front reserve to eat! Today the lake wasn’t quite so dismal although a cold wind was blowing. 

Back on the road we passed another historic cottage; this Sod Cottage built in the 1860s I’m not too sure what or if there is a difference between cob cottages & sod cottages. I’ll have to google that, they do look similar though. This cottage was used as a store & with another across the road, it became a stop off point for gold field travellers.

 

 

The rest of the trip was uneventful, well uneventful until the windscreen sprung a crack, a crack that is fast running horizontally across the screen. We did hear a stone hit it earlier today but it didn’t seem to be too loud or big but it must have hit the edge & started the break. We now have to wait until we get to Invercargill before we can get it replaced but at least they’ll have it all ready & waiting for us after David gave them a call. Let’s hope the crack doesn’t run too much further.

We arrived at the campground to find that no one was about but as has been the case a few times lately, a note on the door indicates for visitors to go ahead & locate a site & the owners will be down later to sort us out. This was an empty campground, nobody at all around, nobody in the cabins, no other vans parked up, totally deserted. That was until we rounded the corner to see this!

And no that’s not us already parked up, that’s another Ultima, exactly the same as ours and the only other vehicle parked on site. What a coincidence, we have yet to meet the owner but apparently he is from Gore so he’s not too far from home.

 
We choose the best site in the whole campground, the only one to overlook the river estuary and just big enough for us to back the fifth-wheeler in and have a great view up the estuary and out to sea. It also overlooks a stream outlet & a public walkway that leads to the beach & the sealions. Perfect!

The bird life  around the campsite is amazing, plenty of native birds that are very close including this hefty kereru (wood pigeon) feeding on a bush just a few feet away from our door.

We were set up in no time at all and I took a walk out to the beach which is actually quite a walk away. With no sealions in view & it getting cold & late I turned around and headed for home once I reached this sign post for an old ship wreck. From afar it looked like a hangmans noose! We’ll walk out to the point tomorrow and possibly into the next bay & hopefully locate some sealions then.

When I rounded the last bend before the camp site I saw that another motorhome had arrived while I’d been away.

And as I walked up the path from the beach & passed it the door flew open and out popped my sister-in-law Jackie (David’s sister)!! What a lovely surprise. Wouldn’t you know it, here in the middle of nowhere with a population of about twenty,  Jackie & Bob arrive & we hear that this is one of their favourite places to stay.

Jackie & Bob live in Papamoa in the North Island and also have family that live in Invercargill (pure coincidence), they are regular visitors to the South Island and spend many months travelling in their motorhome. We knew they were down here for Christmas too but they were travelling down the west side of the island while we came down the east coast. As it’s turned out they crossed over Cook Strait in the afternoon of the day that we crossed & they’re also due at their family next Saturday the 15th.

They thought they’d fill in the last few days by coming over to the Catlins to their favourite campground, not just their favourite campground but their favourite site with the magnificent view overlooking the water.

When they checked in, the owner(who had returned) said to them “I’m sorry the site you usually have is already taken, just an hour or so ago too”. Imagine their surprise when they rounded the corner to see that it was us in their site! Jackie said they shouldn’t have stopped in Gore for lunch!

This is the second time we have stumbled across Jackie & Bob, we also met them at Long Bay in the Coromandel earlier in the year. I’m sure this won’t be the last time we see them either, they’re down South for a few months so we’re bound to cross paths again (other than at Christmas of course).

 

 

Just for you Jackie, sunset out the back window! :)

 

Penguin Encounter

We had the most amazing experience Thursday evening & it's taken me quite awhile to process the photos and get this blog post ready but I think you'll agree it's been worth the wait!

The third reason we stopped at Moeraki was because there is also a Yellow-Eyed Penguin (Hoiho) colony nearby. Yellow-Eyed Penguins are one of the rarest penguins in the world & are unique to NZ. There is an estimate of only 450-500 pairs of penguins nesting on NZ's mainland, this is up from 150 pairs in 1990 when the Yellow-Eyed Penguin Trust & others began their work in saving this endearing little penguin.

Nearby the colony was a hide(bird) which overlooked a tiny sandy bay surrounded by rocks & this was where most of the visitors to the colony could wait & watch for the penguins arriving home from the sea. The penguins are nesting at the moment, one stays with the eggs or chicks while the other feeds at sea and then brings home dinner in the early evening to feed it's mate or the chicks.

I went down to the hide while David checked out another track, he soon came racing back to get me as there were two penguins already up on a ridge just above another bay & much closer than where the hide was.

These two penguins spent the entire time we were in the area, about 2 hours, in this spot preening & preening & preening some more! I didn't once manage to get a photo of them both looking up.

I wanted to see a penguin arrive in on a wave but with no action happening we moved further on along the peninsula and just about stood on a seal enjoying an afternoon siesta.

All around us in the grass and on the rocks & sand below were seals snoozing.

And another Blue Spotted Shag rookery or should that be "round table". If you look closely (click on the photos to make them bigger) there's also a couple of seals that I didn't see when taking the shot.

We headed back to the penguin beach to see if any more had arrived, the two we had seen earlier were still doing their ablutions.

And another penguin had arrived on the beach! And he had set about preening himself too.

But not for long as once he had finished he then did a series of wing exercises. Preparing for what he was about to undertake.....

He waddled forward towards the steep bank and jumped and flapped his way up. When he got to the top he waved his flippers in the air, very proud of himself....

Just then another penguin made an appearance just to the left of where we were sitting, he'd come up from the bay on the other side of the rocky outcrop. He looked a little startled to see us sitting there but just stayed where he was for quite awhile before waddling off in the direction of the point.

Next minute (nek minnit) right in front of us & not three foot away, the penguin from the beach exercises, appeared on the other side of the fence.

He took no notice of us, we stayed very still & he proceeded to climb underneath the wire and jump out in front of us. How thrilling was that! They are just so darn cute, their flesh coloured legs look like baggy socks & they look like little old men when they walk.

The foreign tourists who had followed the track to this end were just as thrilled to see a penguin passing by on the wrong side of the fence.

We thought he must be heading for one of the tracks up the grassy hill behind us. Up until then we thought the tracks had been made by people but now we realised that they were penguin tracks. But he fooled us again and took a dive under the thistles and disappeared up an unseen track.

He was heading straight to where David (Attenborough) was laying!

Once he reached the fence on that side of the hill he started climbing, and climbing, and climbing.....

We circled around and climbed to the top of the hill where we found this nest box & a patiently waiting partner.

But he fooled us again. Somewhere between our last sighting & the nest box he had disappeared under the fence to be reunited with his partner (not the one above) where they were both performing an elaborate greeting ceremony of trills and calls before he fed their hungry chick. I caught sight of the chicks beak in between the two once of twice & you could certainly hear it squeaking for a meal.

So we were thrilled to see so many penguins, seven in all. There was another nest box close to the track that on our return now had a penguin sitting outside it as well.

And before we left our camp site, Moeraki had one more surprise for us much closer to home. But you'll have to wait to find out about that until the next post.

Kaikoura- Don't look now...

We were parked up in the rain on the Kaikoura waterfront having lunch when I looked up to see this. There‘s even a woman under one of the raindrops sitting in the back seat with a video camera! I doubt it will go viral but I guess we’re going to make it onto someone’s home movies.

After lunch we carried on along the waterfront to Fyffe Point where the Peninsular Walkway leads around to a couple of seal colonies, not that we had intention of doing the walk in the rain but I was hoping there might have been a few seals resting near the carpark.

And there was, and not only on the rocks but lounging about under the flax bushes beside the boardwalk. They reminded me of the big fat sows (& the occasional boar) from the pig farm of my childhood.

 

At only a metre or so away, they were totally oblivious to any observers, not even opening an eye to check us out. A geese family wandered about in amongst the seals & I was waiting in trepidation for a seal to take a snap at them but no, they slumbered on.

There's also a another seal under the flax bush on right

 

After the visiting the seals we carried on south along the rocky coastline following the narrow & winding main state highway through a couple of tight tunnels that had us checking the sides as we passed through.

We pulled into the NZMCA Park at Parnassus in North Canterbury with it still raining & where we were greeted by a noisy & friendly peacock no doubt looking for hand outs.

The Association have about 18 parks scattered around the country and as long as you are members you are free to park over at any of the properties for the miniscule fee of $2 per person per night, basically just helping with maintenance, some just request a gold coin donation. And even at this tiny amount some quibble & moan & from experience leave without paying. I can’t understand it, $2 is hardly going to break the bank & look what you get, a safe & secure resting spot for the night in a good location. There are some that aren’t even aware that a payment is required; those are the ones, I bet, that hold up the long lines of traffic. Totally ignorant to the world around them.