Page 26 - Waterfall Issue 6 2021
P. 26
Waterfall birding
Fiordland NP (RS)
A bIRdInG TRIP To
nEW ZEALAnd (nZ) Part 2
By Ron Searle, Photographs by Adam Riley of Rockjumper Bird Tours and Ron Searle
T he first-leg of our three-leg re-united with our campervan, my and off with intermittent bursts of
birdwatching trip to New
very welcome sunshine but, alas, the
son Des and his wife kirsty, my wife,
Zealand commenced at
Christchurch on the South Maureen, and I set off on the second walk did not produce any new birds.
leg of our trip, which started at
Island, followed by a journey down Invercargill, where we first stopped to Our next destination was a visit to
the East Coast to Bluff for a ferry- shop for some necessary provisions. the very popular Milford Sound in
crossing of the Foveaux Strait to Fiordland, an area of dramatic grandeur
Stewart Island for three days. Once Making our way north to Te Anau, and primeval beauty on the south
my first lifer (a new bird for me) was west coast of South Island. Target
a large flock of Black-billed Gulls, bird species in this area included the
which were feeding on worms miniscule Rifleman, which we located
and insects unearthed in a newly easily enough (three pairs) thanks to
ploughed field. Checking into the the acute hearing of Des and kirsty
Fiordland Mountain View Motor who easily detected the high-pitched
Park at our destination enabled calls of this endemic during an hour’s
an enjoyable late afternoon walk walk on a nature trail in the Gunn Lake
along the kepplers track through environs. Next on our hit-list was the
indigenous forest flourishing on the rare NZ Rock Wren at Homer Tunnel.
shores of Lake Te Anau. The weather The scenery on our approach to the
had been changeable, drizzling on tunnel was absolutely mind-blowing
Black-billed Gull (RS)
•
24 Waterfall Issue 6 2021
