BIRDING NEW ZEALAND DAY 8: Milford Sound to Queenstown

The day began with a delicious hot breakfast onboard the ship. We then headed towards the Tasman Sea, exiting the sound. While travelling, the ship stopped to observe 3 lifer Fiordland crested penguins hopping into the water, one of my target birds! This meant that on our trip we had seen all 3 of mainland New Zealand's resident penguins! As always, we were treated to amazing views. After exiting the sea we saw a beach where Maori tribes used to harvest greenstone, before re-entering the sound. I managed to see another Fiordland crested penguin swimming near the boat. As we headed to our final stop, the Milford Discovery Centre, we stopped once more to observe nearby New Zealand fur seals.

This beach is where we observed the penguins hopping into the water

Unfortunately, this was the best shot I got of the Fiordland crested penguin

Orange boulders on this beach contain rare nephrite jade, or greenstone

Mitre Peak stands tall at the entrance of Milford Sound

The cliffs of Mt. Kimberly are so high that nobody has ever climbed them

Young male New Zealand fur seals rest on the rocky shoreline of Milford Sound 

We were dropped off at the Milford Discovery Centre. This building on the shore of Harrison Cove contains a floating observatory that extends 10 metres down. Areas at the edge of the observatory have been planted with Black Coral, which entices many different animals into the surrounds of the structure. Our guide pointed out a wide variety of animals, from sea cucumbers and urchins on the cliff face, to snake stars wrapped around the coral.

Milford's dark waters allow black coral to grow in much shallower depths than normal

A smooth leatherjacket feeds at the edge of the observatory

A marblefish has hidden itself on the observatory's edge

Scarlet wrasse start life as females and eventually change their gender 

The black sea star wrapped around the coral is a snake star

A butterfly perch sleeps behind some black coral

These oblique-swimming triplefin are endemic to New Zealand

The drive to Queenstown was quite uneventful: we briefly passed by the black-billed gull nesting site but couldn't stop. We also saw many swamp harriers.