BIRDING NEW ZEALAND DAY 2: Dunedin to Invercargill

On our second day, after viewing the inside of Lanarch Castle, we decided to visit the Dunedin Royal Albatross Centre. Here, we booked a guided tour at 10:30 pm. The tour took us up to an observatory, from which we saw a young Northern royal albatross at close range. As we watched the first bird, we also saw a few more albatross flying around the Tairoa Head lighthouse. After the tour was done we visited the boardwalk near the centre, which gave distant views of a spotted shag colony. We had lunch in the Centre's cafe and then began the 2-hour drive to Invercargill, on which we saw 25 swamp harriers.  

This Northern royal albatross was sitting down and enjoying the sunshine

We arrived in Invercargill at around 4pm. We made our way to the Bushy Point Fernbirds B&B. The feeders at the B&B were alive with tui and New Zealand bellbirds. A ball of seeds held on a stick in front of the dining area was being swarmed by silvereyes. 

Tui were extremely common on the property

The silvereyes on New Zealand are of the Tasmanian subspecies

Because the weather tomorrow was forecasted to be cold and rainy, we decided that we'd do our guided fernbird walk today. Ian, our host, took us out onto the property. As we walked towards the marsh where the fern birds live, we saw a New Zealand fantail and heard some grey warblers. When we got to the marsh, Ian taught us that by whistling the fernbird's two-note call, you can easily bring them in. He demonstrated, bringing in a single lifer fernbird at close range. While walking the trail we also saw several of them flying over the marsh. Some paradise shelducks were also flying overhead, along with a lone swamp harrier.

The fernbird is New Zealand's only species of warbler