We arrived in Auckland mid-afternoon on 10^th February, some 27 hours after leaving a cold and wet Heathrow. We were dazed, confused, and exhausted but I was keen to get my bird-list started. The first four entries in my notebook? – House Sparrow, Blackbird, Starling and Goldfinch. The first ‘exotics’ were a noisy group of Common Mynas near our airport hotel and in the distance Black-backed Gulls and, what felt like the first real birds of the trip, a small flock of Masked Lapwing.

After a long sleep it was back to the airport to pick up the hire car – that trip adding Australasian Magpie and Pukeko to the list. Our first destination was Mangere, just a ten minute drive from our hotel. My directions worked well initially and we found the causeway across to Puketutu Island with no difficulty. Disappointingly we had managed to pick high tide for our visit and few waders were present, including what was to become my bogey bird for the trip – Wrybill. Nevertheless there was plenty to keep me busy with a mass of unfamiliar birds in the channel running alongside the causeway and in the lake at the island end – so busy that I failed to take any photos here, thinking I would have plenty of other opportunities, a decision that I came to regret! The highlights were my first endemics in the form of 6 NZ Dabchicks and countless Paradise Shelducks. Three Black-fronted Dotterel proved to be the only ones of the trip but at the time I was just as pleased with my first views of White-faced Heron, Australasian Harrier and Red-billed Gull all of which became daily sights. As we drove away from the island what appeared to be a Collared Dove flew from overhead wires – I assume this must have been Barbary Dove as Collared doesn’t appear on the NZ list.

Next came our first disappointment. I had directions to another area in Mangere but the road was closed off and I failed to find what was actually a fairly obvious alternative route! Still, Northland was calling and we drove off to negotiate the end of a Monday morning rush hour in Auckland.

Our second night was to be spent near the Trounson Kauri Park about 100 miles north of Auckland. We drove around Kaipara harbour, stopping at Ruawai and Raupo to look for the Australasian Pelicans that had been reported in recent weeks, but only picking up more of the common NZ birds like White-fronted Tern and Sacred Kingfisher. We arrived at the Top 10 Holiday Park (surprisingly nice in spite of the name) in the late afternoon and booked on to that evening’s Kiwi walk. My heart sank when it turned out that there were 11 of us on the walk and the noise we made going through the forest should have been enough to scare off any Kiwi within a mile. Amazingly however, and just before the walk finished, a single Kiwi showed briefly in the undergrowth as it moved away from us – the first of my target birds. A huge Cave Weta (a giant cricket-type insect) was pointed out to us and our only live Possums of the trip showed well in the torchlight.

The following morning I woke to the very exotic sound of a Tui singing from a nearby tree as it nectared on the flowers. This was sufficient to get me up and I spent the next hour wandering around the beautiful grounds of the campsite and seeing my first Silvereyes, Fantails, Grey Warblers and New Zealand Pigeons. Less welcome additions to the list were non-native California Quail and Eastern Rosella.

Silvereye

Next it was back in the car and heading north via Rawene, Ahipara and Awanui to the stunning 90-mile beach. Several Caspian Terns were a surprise at our first stop but they turned out to be a regular sighting. Our first all-black Variable Oystercatcher was a thrill, Black Shag less so – it’s a Cormorant! Our final destination for this leg of the trip was Russell and on the short ferry journey across from Pahia our first Australasian Gannets and Pied Shags appeared.

We were up early again the following morning to catch the beautiful R. Tucker Thompson sailing ship for a day-long tour around the Bay of Islands. The boat took us to Motuarohia Island where we stopped for swims, walks and lunch. The first part of the day had been very still and the boat had been engine powered but the return was under sail and a fantastic experience. At one stage a number of smallish birds appeared on the surface of the water some distance from the boat. Through the binoculars I had a reasonable view and was thinking Guillemot, Razorbill? Until the penny dropped – Little Blue Penguins, my second target bird of the trip! Lots of Gannet flew past and, distantly, dozens of shearwater which remained unidentified. One did come close enough for me to identify as Buller’s Shearwater, a common bird in the area. We had been hoping for good views of dolphin during the trip but had to be satisfied with a distant sighting of some Bottlenose Dolphins riding the bow-wave of another boat!

Little Blue Penguin

The following day we had to leave Russell and our lovely hotel, the Duke of Marlborough, and head back towards Auckland. I’d arranged a full day starting off with a trip to Teal Bay in the hope of seeing one of the world’s rarest ducks – the Brown Teal. My directions were to a small stream in Teal Bay (which turned out to be a settlement rather than a bay) and proved to be accurate with at least ten of these distinctive ducks showing well from the bridge over the stream.

Brown Teal

 There was a patch of flooded pasture nearby where a Banded Rail appeared briefly with a chick. As I tried, unsuccessfully, to take some photos a New Zealand Pipit flew over – the first of only two sightings of this endemic. Our final visit of the day was to the Tawharanui Regional Park – entirely surrounded by fencing the park has had all pests (rats, stoats, possums etc) removed and native bird species introduced. There are a number of marked footpaths but as time was limited we took the shorter Ecology trail which took us through some of the wooded areas. Whitehead (adults feeding young) and Saddleback were added to the NZ list but the moment that I’ll remember is being surrounded by half a dozen singing Bellbirds all within a few feet of us – a glorious noise! A pair of Brown Teal were on a rather dirty looking pond and several Caspian Terns were on the beach. I’d hoped for New Zealand Dotterel but they weren’t to be found. We arrived in Auckland in time for the evening rush hour which put paid to my plans for a return visit to Mangere to search for Wrybill. Instead we dropped off the hire car and prepared for an early flight to South Island in the morning.

Whitehead

 

On arrival in Queenstown we picked up our new hire car and set off immediately for Te Anau. I’d read somewhere that the road to Te Anau was a good place to find New Zealand Falcon, especially near Garston so slowed down as we drove through – amazingly within a couple of minutes a falcon flew low over the road. It wasn’t a great view and sadly we didn’t see any more but still delighted to add another endemic to the list. The next endemics followed quickly with both NZ Scaup and Black-billed Gull common on the lake at Te Anau.

New Zealand Scaup

The following morning saw yet another early start for us with a day trip to Doubtful Sound – what was to be one of the many highlights of the holiday. We were picked up from our hotel just after 7 and driven to Manapouri where the trip proper started with a boat across Lake Manapouri to a landing jetty in the west arm. Here we climbed on a bus which took us overland to Doubtful Sound via a narrow road built during the construction of the large hydroelectric plant. At the other end our boat was waiting to take us for a 3-hour journey along Doubtful Sound. At the start it was chilly with very low cloud but as the day progressed the cloud lifted and the sun even came out. We were delighted that it stayed dry but were continually told by the crew that the sound was at its best in the rain. The cruise itself was excellent with a very good nature guide who was entirely responsible for finding my next endemic – Fiordland Crested Penguin. I hadn’t held out much hope of connecting with this bird as in February the breeding season is over and they all move out to sea but at least 3 were still present in Doubtful Sound. Again, none of the views were great with all 3 birds distant (two in the water, one on land) but they are so distinctive that they were still readily identifiable. Sooty Shearwater were present in their hundreds with other highlights of the cruise being a Fur Seal colony and distant views of a dolphin. At one stage the engines of the boat were turned off, people were asked to be quiet, even to stop taking photos, and just listen to the quiet – with the calls of a few birds interrupting the silence. That was another iconic moment of our NZ trip. Earlier we had seen signs at the dock asking us not to feed the parrots, but unfortunately there were no parrots. They eventually appeared as we headed back with 3 flying over the sound and landing in the forest. Sadly this was our only sighting of Kea during our entire time in New Zealand.

Fur Seal

We got back to Te Anau about 4pm and it had turned into a beautiful day so we decided to take a drive towards Milford Sound. We stopped off at the Mirror Lakes which were much smaller than we’d expected but still impressive but a couple of NZ Scaup were the only birds to be seen. We drove a few miles further, stopping for a walk in a wood at Cascade Creek – lots of Bellbird, Silvereyes, Tui etc but did manage to add a very confiding but rather dishevelled Rifleman to the list.

The next morning (Sunday 17^th Feb) it was time to move on to our most southerly destination – Stewart Island. Just beyond Manapouri we stopped at Rainbow Reach for a walk in another wooded area. New additions to the list were Tomtit and Lesser Redpoll – the latter would prove to be very common in this part of New Zealand. We continued on our way south stopping for a picnic lunch on cliffs overlooking Te Waewae Bay where we had read that the very rare Hector’s Dolphin were occasionally seen – a tiny cetacean only found off the coast of New Zealand. Almost immediately we spotted several shapes in the surf and with binoculars it was easy to spot the distinctive, rounded dorsal fin of Hector’s Dolphin – at least eight of them. The rest of the trip was uneventful, our Sunday afternoon stop in Invercargill particularly so, and we got to the ferry terminal in Bluff with plenty of time to park up the car and collect our tickets. The ferry trip itself was quick, just one hour, and uneventful until we got to Halfmoon Bay when a number of White-capped Albatrosses were sitting on the water. Albatross (of any variety!) was one of the birds on my most-wanted list so my arrival in Stewart Island started on a high.

White-capped Albatross

We were collected from the dock and driven the short distance to the Stewart Island Lodge where we were to spend the next two nights. To my delight our room had a panoramic view of the bay and the first birds I could see were the albatrosses. After we had settled in I phoned Philip of Bravo Adventure Cruises with whom we were booked on an evening Kiwi walk – whilst not guaranteeing anything he seemed confident of seeing Kiwi that night. We were back at the dock for 8.30 with the sun just going down and found about eight others on the boat waiting for us. We set off for Ocean Beach passing a small island in the middle of Halfmoon Bay and getting great views of several Stewart Island Shag. A few Little Blue Penguins were present on the sea but shortly before we got to Ocean Beach the boat lurched to a halt and Philip pointed out two Yellow-eyed Penguins swimming and diving a few yards from the boat – just over a week into our NZ trip and we’d got all 3 penguin species! By the time we docked it was getting dark and torches were needed for the short walk overland to Ocean Beach. We walked slowly and quietly and suddenly we all stopped, the guide shone his torch on the path ahead and there was a Kiwi happily feeding by the side of the track. This was the Tokoeka or ‘Weka with a stick’ my second species of Kiwi after the brief view of Brown Kiwi in the North Island the previous week. This couldn’t have been more different – the bird appeared oblivious to us and we watched it for 10 minutes before it moved off into the undergrowth. I would have settled for that but more was to come. We reached the beach and the guide shone his torch along the tideline finding another Kiwi feeding a short distance away. We got further amazing views of this bird before moving down the beach and finding a third smaller bird feeding. A simply fantastic evening and we returned to our hotel exhausted but very pleased with ourselves.

The following morning we were up early again for our trip to Ulva Island. Breakfast on the veranda was enlivened by a very tame Kaka trying to share – obviously previous guests had been feeding him but we resisted to his clear disappointment.

Kaka

 We were picked up from the lodge just after 8 by Furhana of Ruggedy Range and transported to a different dock where a water taxi took us and another 4 people to Ulva Island. On landing Furhana gathered us together for a brief explanation of what we would be doing that morning – difficult to pay attention with a Weka pottering around on the beach behind her and Red-fronted Parakeets flying over calling. Furhana proved to be a fantastic and knowledgeable guide identifying birds by their calls and quickly locating them in the thick vegetation. South Island Robins were persuaded to approach to within a few feet by scraping at the dirt by the side of the footpath whilst Fantails and Tomtits didn’t even need that much persuasion. Yellowheads, Brown Creepers and Saddlebacks all showed well but the final surprise were views of a roosting Morepork – not a bird I had expected to see on my NZ trip. Too soon our time on Ulva Island was over and we were back in the water taxi heading for Oban. That afternoon and the following morning was spent walking around the beautiful coastline of Stewart Island before catching the afternoon ferry back to the mainland. Our next overnight stop was at Dunedin, a three hour drive, so no chance to stop off in the Catlins – maybe next time.

Saddleback

Perhaps it was just the part of Dunedin where we were staying (the Mercure near the botanical gardens) but it was my least favourite New Zealand city – appearing dirty and rundown. Whilst on Stewart Island we met a couple who had just been to Dunedin and raved about a trip they’d taken on the Otago peninsula with Elm tours – I’d gone straight online and booked us on the afternoon tour. After a morning in Dunedin town centre we were picked up from our hotel by Elm tours and taken straight to Harrington Point on the Otago Peninsula – passing my first flock of Royal Spoonbills on the way. As we approached the car park at the point a single Northern Royal Albatross soared briefly into view but, as it was an exceptionally calm day, it was some time until our next sighting. A tarmacked footpath leads from the car park along the top of the cliffs and the Elm tours guide suggested that with a bit of patience this would be the most likely place for good views of the albatross. After half an hour I’d had distant views over the sea but all of a sudden an albatross flew past only a few feet from me, using the updraft from the cliffs. It was so close that my telephoto lens struggled to get the bird in focus – another ‘wow’ moment added to the list. 

Northern Royal Albatross

We then drove to a private beach where we had wonderfully close up views of Yellow-eyed Penguins as they left the ocean and moved inland to roost – two came to within just a few feet of us. Also on the beach were a pair of Hooker’s Sea-lions from which we all kept a respectful distance, they were huge and very quick over short distances so we were told. Looking across the beach I realised that what from a distance I’d taken to be large rocks were in fact more sea-lions – 10 in all. A short walk up a hill and down into a neighbouring but this time rocky bay took us to the Fur Seal colony where we had excellent views of several dozen youngsters and adult females. Out on the sea were both Northern Royal and White-capped Albatrosses as well as two Giant Petrels. By now it was getting dark and time to head back to Dunedin. In the coach the radio was turned on to cricket commentary and it was a pleasure to listen as England soundly beat NZ in the presence of two disgusted Kiwis and several bewildered Americans.

Yellow-eyed Penguin

The following day we headed inland for the first time. Our destination was Lake Tekapo, high up in the mountains but our day started on another beach looking at the weirdly impressive Moeraki Boulders – who knew that a bunch of rocks could be so interesting. The drive to Lake Tekapo was dull by New Zealand standards with little of interest until we saw first Lake Pukaki and later Lake Tekapo itself – both stunningly beautiful lakes with blindingly bright blue water. We stopped off in Twizel to visit the information centre and find out about recent sightings of Black Stilt; the response was that our only chance of seeing these birds was by booking onto one of their guided tours. I was fairly sure this was inaccurate and decided to try it myself first. After booking into our hotel in Tekapo we drove along the western bank of the lake (first of all taking in the breath-taking views from the Mt John Observatory). We stopped on the banks of the lake where the road crossed a small inlet and in the distance I could see a few waders feeding. Viewing through the scope revealed these to be several Pied Stilts, 2 Banded Dotterel and, the big prize, 2 Black Stilts. So much for the guided tour!

Black Stilt

 The next day we had decided on a trip to Mount Cook so doubled back on ourselves as far as Lake Pukaki then drove up the western side. Just past the end of the lake is Glentanner airfield, a spot recommended to me for both Black Stilt and the elusive Wrybill. Indeed, three Black Stilts (2 adults and a juvenile) showed very well and there were several more Banded Dotterel but no Wrybill. Where’s the guided tour when you really need it? The drive up to Mount Cook National Park was perhaps the most beautiful of our entire New Zealand trip – bright sunshine against the huge snowy mountains. We took the Hooker Valley track (about 2 hours each way) in the hope of picking up Blue Duck in the river but we were out of luck. We had huge luck though after about half an hour, even before the hordes of Japanese tourists had turned back, when a small, tail-less, green bird landed briefly on a boulder in front of us before being chased off by a second bird. I barely had time to realise that they were Rock Wrens before they disappeared behind the boulder and were not seen again.

The next day was 23^rd February and, unbelievably we were halfway through our trip. Another long drive to spend the night in Christchurch. On the way we stopped off at Lake Ellesmere in a final attempt to find Wrybill. Of course it failed and as if to rub it in the only addition to the bird list for that day was Common Pheasant! Greenpark Hutts on Lake Ellesmere looks a fantastic spot but during our brief visit (about an hour) we recorded only Pied Stilts, Royal Spoonbill and Banded Dotterel. Christchurch itself was both disappointing and rather sad. The earthquake of almost exactly 2 years ago has left the city without a real centre and the number of damaged and cordoned off buildings is staggering. Our next stop was Kaikoura with a few stops on the way: Waikuku beach where I finally connected with Black-fronted Tern and St Ann’s Lagoon where Coot was added to the list.

Banded Dotterel

We arrived in Kaikoura mid-afternoon and just had time to find our hotel, drop off our bags and then get onto our whale-watching tour. It was quite an impressive boat with plenty of room both inside and on deck, clearly designed to give as many people as possible good views of wildlife as possible. We had the usual safety talk as we ventured out into the ocean, with advice about what to do if you felt seasick. Never having had that problem I happily ignored it all. Several Hutton’s Shearwaters showed well from the boat along with Cape Pigeon, Giant Petrel, Salvin’s and Wandering Albatross and Westland Petrel. But the star of the show was of course the Sperm Whales. The trip lasted about 3 hours and for a good hour of that we were having fantastic, close up views of two different whales. Unfortunately I was less interested than I might otherwise have been having turned green after about an hour! The seasickness was so bad that I had to cancel the following day’s much anticipated Albatross Encounter trip as I still felt ill.

Sperm Whale

With the morning unexpectedly free we took our time getting to our next destination of Nelson making several stops: Blenheim (rather workmanlike and not particularly attractive); Picton (surprisingly pretty, if a bit touristy); Pelorus Bridge (great views of Weka). The drive from Picton to Havelock is just gorgeous if a bit scary in places although as the driver I suspect I missed quite a bit. For our day in Nelson wildlife took a back seat and we went on a full day wine tasting tour which went to confirm my long held belief in NZ wine – white wine good, red wine bad.

Weka

It was now 27^th February and with just 10 days of our trip remaining it was time to head back down towards Christchurch. Our next night was to be spent in a small town called Reefton near the west coast. First of all we headed towards the Abel Tasman National Park stopping at Motueka. In the harbour there I saw my first Little Black Shags (I suspect I’d overlooked this species earlier in the trip) and on the long sand spit were at least a dozen Caspian Terns roosting. In amongst these and only seen perched at some distance was what looked very much like a Gull-billed Tern. In southern Europe I would probably have counted it but here it seems just a bit too unlikely. Our next stop was at St Arnaud with great views of the commoner forest birds. The drive from Reefton to Arthur’s Pass the following day was fairly uneventful although the scenery was jaw-dropping in places. A lunchtime stop at Lake Brunner gave us views of a very tame Weka, a family of Kingfishers and more Brown Creepers than we’d seen since Stewart Island. Once installed in our hotel in Arthur’s Pass we drove back down the road a short distance to the Otira Valley Track where there was a good chance of Blue Duck and Rock Wren. Neither appeared, of course, but it was another beautiful walk. I had decided not to search for the Great Spotted Kiwi which are in the woods around Arthur’s Pass village, a decision I regretted when one called close to our hotel during the night.

Fantail

Our last day on the south island started with a walk up to the Devil’s Punchbowl Falls giving us final views of Tomtit, Fantail and Robin. I was surprised that during our stay we didn’t see a single Kea in or around Arthur’s Pass. Someone who visited the area a few weeks after us also missed them. We had a frighteningly early start the following morning so made only one stop on our way back to Christchurch – Lake Pearson where Australasian Crested Grebe was duly ticked.

Our frighteningly early start was to catch a plane up to Auckland and connect to a flight to Rarotonga, the main Cook Island. The trip took about 6 hours but as we crossed the international date line we were back to Friday 1^st March again – very disconcerting! We stayed in the delightful Muri Beach Cottages in the south east of the island and perched right on the beach with views across the lagoon – easily the most beautiful place that we stayed. With a bit of daylight remaining we went for a walk on the beach. Several Reef Herons, a Wandering Tattler and a Pacific Golden Plover were all within a few yards of our cottage with Common Noddies regularly flying over. 

Reef Heron

Wandering Tattler

Several months earlier I’d contacted the Takitumu Conservation area in Rarotonga to arrange a guided walk to see the endemic Rarotongan Flycatcher amongst other island birds. I phoned the guide on our arrival to confirm but sadly when we turned up at the appointed time and place the guide was nowhere to be found. An unguided tour isn’t possible so after an hour of hanging around we gave up and went back to Muri Beach. My consolation was a Red-tailed Tropicbird flying over our cottage when we got back and the realisation that the white birds I’d seen in the distance the previous day were White Terns. Little happens on a Sunday on Rarotonga (except church) so our lovely landlady, Gwen, drove us inland and dropped us off at the start of the Turanga jungle walk. About 3 hours there and back the walk was just beautiful and turned up Pacific Islands Pigeon, Rarotongan Starling, Long-tailed Cuckoo and Red Junglefowl.

 The following morning (yet another early start!) we had booked a trip to the neighbouring island of Aitutaki. This involved an hour long flight in a scarily small plane followed by a cruise around the huge lagoon. At Aitutaki airport Pacific Golden Plovers were everywhere but I didn’t manage to find any Blue Lorikeets.

White-capped Noddy

 The cruise took us around the reef stopping along the way to swim with the Giant Trevally (a bloody huge fish!) and wander around several islands. Greater Frigatebird and White-capped Noddy were new to me but we also got excellent views of Red-tailed Tropicbird, White Tern and the white morph Reef Heron. I was disappointed when I realised that the small, plain wader that I chased on one of the islands was actually a Sanderling – still, another trip tick!

White Tern

Red-tailed Tropicbird

The next day saw us heading back to Auckland for a final 2 days before returning to England. On the Thursday (7^th March) I’d booked a trip to Tiritiri Matangi Island. The ferry there saw us pass through flocks of Fluttering Shearwater several hundred strong, presumably attracted to a food source close to the surface. On our arrival on Tiri we were divided up according to which area of the island we wanted to visit. I had several target birds and I’d been told that two of them, Stitchbird and Kokako, were best seen from the Wattle track so we chose this option, along with about 6 others.

Stitchbird

 The guide was very informative and we had great views of Stitchbird as well as Brown Quail, Whitehead and Saddleback – but no Kokako. At the visitor’s centre at the centre of the island a family group of 3 Takahe wandered around the picnic tables, hoping for scraps, amazing looking birds that turned out to be the final addition to my New Zealand list.

Takahe

NEW ZEALAND

North Island Brown Kiwi – Trounson Kauri Park

South Island Brown Kiwi – Ocean Beach, Stewart Island

Great Spotted Kiwi – Arthur’s Pass (heard only)

Australasian Crested Grebe – Lake Pearson

New Zealand Dabchick – Mangere

Northern Royal Albatross – Otago Peninsula

Wandering Albatross – Kaikoura

White-capped Albatross – Stewart Island; Otago Peninsula

Salvin’s Albatross – Kaikoura

Northern Giant Petrel – Otago Peninsula; Kaikoura

Buller’s Shearwater – Bay of Islands

Sooty Shearwater – Doubtful Sound; Stewart Island; Kaikoura

Fluttering Shearwater – Hauraki Gulf

Fluttering Shearwater

Hutton’s Shearwater – Kaikoura

Westland Petrel – Kaikoura

Cape Pigeon – Stewart Island; Kaikoura

Yellow-eyed Penguin – Stewart Island; Otago Peninsula

Little Blue Penguin – Bay of Islands; Doubtful Sound; Stewart Island; Otago Peninsula

Fiordland Crested Penguin – Doubtful Sound

Australasian Gannet – Bay of Islands (first sighting, common elsewhere)

Black Shag – Bay of Islands

Pied Shag - Bay of Islands (first sighting, common elsewhere)

Little Black Shag – Motueka Harbour

Little Shag – Mangere (first sighting, common elsewhere)

Spotted Shag – Otago Peninsula (first sighting, common elsewhere)

Spotted Shag

Stewart Island Shag – Stewart Island

White-faced Heron - Mangere (first sighting, common elsewhere)

Royal Spoonbill – Otago Peninsula; Lake Ellesmere

Black Swan - Mangere (first sighting, common elsewhere)

Canada Goose – Te Anau

Paradise Shelduck - Mangere (first sighting, common elsewhere)

Paradise Shelduck

Mallard - Mangere (first sighting, common elsewhere)

Grey Duck - Mangere (first sighting, common elsewhere)

Australasian Shoveller – Rainbow Reach, Manapouri

Grey Teal – Mangere

Brown Teal – Teal Bay, Russell; Tawharanui Regional Park

New Zealand Scaup – Te Anau; Mirror Lakes

Australasian Harrier - Mangere (first sighting, common elsewhere)

New Zealand Falcon – Garston

Pheasant – Lake Ellesmere

California Quail – Trounson Kauri Park; Helena Bay

Brown Quail – Tiritiri Matangi

Weka – Doubtful Sound; Ulva Island; Pelorus Bridge; Lake Brunner

Banded Rail – Teal Bay

Takahe – Tiritiri Matangi

Pukeko – nr Auckland Airport (first sighting, common elsewhere)

Australian Coot – St Ann’s Lagoon, Kaikoura

Pied Oystercatcher – common

Variable Oystercatcher – common

Variable Oystercatcher

Masked Lapwing – common

Pied Stilt – common

Black Stilt – Lake Tekapo; Lake Pukaki

Banded Dotterel – common

Black-fronted Dotterel – Mangere

Bar-tailed Godwit – Mangere

Black-backed Gull – common

Red-billed Gull – common

Black-billed Gull – Te Anau

Caspian Tern – 90-mile Beach; Tawharanui regional Park; Motueka Spit

White-fronted Tern – common

White-fronted Tern

Black-fronted Tern – Waikuku Beach

New Zealand Pigeon – common

Feral Pigeon – common

Barbary Dove – Mangere

Kea – Doubtful Sound

Kaka – Stewart Island

Eastern Rosella – Trounson; Russell

Red-crowned Parakeet – Ulva Island; Tiritiri Matangi

Morepork – Ulva Island

Kingfisher – common

Welcome Swallow – common

Welcome Swallow

Rifleman – Cascade Creek; Ulva Island

Rock Wren – Hooker Valley

Silvereye – common

Grey Warbler – common

Blackbird – common

Song Thrush – common

Skylark – common

New Zealand Pipit – Teal Bay

Brown Creeper – Ulva Island; Lake Brunner

Whitehead - Tawharanui regional Park; Tiritiri Matangi

Yellowhead – Ulva Island

Fantail – common

Tomtit – common

Tomtit

New Zealand Robin – Ulva Island – Tiritiri Matangi

Tui – common

Stitchbird – Tiritiri Matangi

Saddleback - Tawharanui regional Park; Ulva Island; Tiritiri Matangi

Bellbird – common

Bellbird

House Sparrow – cpmmon

Chaffinch – common

Redpoll – common

Goldfinch – common

Greenfinch – common

Yellowhammer – common

Starling – common

Myna – common in North Island

Australian Magpie - common

COOK ISLANDS

Red-tailed Tropicbird - Muri Beach, Rarotonga and Aitutaki

Greater Frigatebird – Aitutaki

Reef Heron – Muri Beach, Rarotonga and Aitutaki

Reef Heron (white morph) – Aitutaki

Red Junglefowl - Turanga, Rarotonga

Pacific Golden Plover – common on Rarotonga and Aitutaki

Sanderling – Aitutaki

Wandering Tattler – Muri Beach, Rarotonga

White Tern – common on Rarotonga and Aitutaki

Common Noddy - common on Rarotonga and Aitutaki

White-capped Noddy – Aitutaki

Pacific Island Pigeon – Turanga, Rarotonga

Long-tailed Cuckoo - Turanga, Rarotonga

Raratongan Starling - Turanga, Rarotonga

Myna – common on Rarotonga