BIRDING NEW ZEALAND DAY 6: Stewart Island to Te Anau

Our 6th day in New Zealand consisted mainly of driving. Early in the morning, we woke up, had our breakfast and took the 8 am ferry to Invercargill. Here, we rented a new car from the airport, ate some food and began the drive to Te Anau. Bird-wise we didn't really see much, until we were about 10 kilometres from Te Anau. A roadside reserve held a breeding colony of lifer black-billed gulls, along with New Zealand scaup, white-naped stilts, grey teal and Paradise shelducks.

White-naped stilts colonised New Zealand from Australia

The grey teal is another Australian bird also found in New Zealand

Black-billed gulls are endemic to New Zealand and closely related to silvergulls

As the name suggests, the New Zealand scaup is also endemic to New Zealand

As there was still plenty of time left before it would get dark, we decided to drive a short distance up the Milford Sound Road. First, we stopped at Mistletoe Lake and did a short walk. There were many New Zealand bellbirds, house sparrows and chaffinches here. Our next stop was Mirror Lake. On the way, we saw a flock of distant lifer black-fronted terns hunting over a paddock, along with some yellowhammers. As we neared Mirror Lakes we were treated to breathtaking views of the Eglinton Valley.

A blurry shot of some endemic black-fronted terns

The yellowhammer was introduced to New Zealand from Britain

There seemed to be beautiful views wherever we looked in Fiordland

Unfortunately, while at Mirror Lakes the weather turned for the worse and we weren't treated with the views we'd hoped for. We decided to return tomorrow.