BIRDING NEW ZEALAND DAY 4: Stewart and Ulva Islands

I woke up at about 6 am, interested in scanning the lodge's grounds for birds. Tui were present everywhere I looked, sharing the shrubs with introduced blackbirds, house sparrows and dunnocks. High-pitched calls alerted me to the presence of a New Zealand fantail. The star of the morning were multiple kaka: 3 birds used to being fed by humans flew up to the terrace and put on quite a show! Unfortunately, feeding the birds isn't very good for them and is therefore frowned upon.

The New Zealand fantail was recently split from Australia's grey fantail

Kaka on Stewart Island are very slightly brighter in colour than South Island birds

After eating a delicious breakfast at the Stewart Island Lodge, we were picked up at 9 am by Furhana of Ruggedy Range Guided Walks (http://www.ruggedyrange.com) for an Ulva Island tour. We spent roughly 4 hours walking around the island, during which we saw a myriad of birds. South Island robins, red-crowned parakeet, weka, New Zealand bellbird, brown creeper and tomtit were common all over the island. Near the end of our walk, we stumbled across a large feeding flock of yellowhead, in which there were several South Island saddleback and a single rare yellow-crowned parakeet. We were lucky enough to see a roosting morepork as well. We even heard the calls of a southern tokoeka! We wouldn't have seen half of these birds without Furhana's help and I highly recommend her as a guide.

The morepork is another endemic recently split from its Australian cousin

Weka are very inquisitive birds: several strolled right up to us and inspected us

The tomtit is a close relative of Australia's robins

South Island robins on Stewart Island have darker upperparts

This red-crowned parakeet perched in a tree right next to the trail

Yellowhead have been introduced to Ulva Island due to their rarity

Young South Island saddlebacks are known as jackbirds

Though blurry, this is the best shot I could manage of the yellow-crowned parakeet

We then headed back to Stewart Island. We rested for most of the day, however when we head down to the hotel for dinner I managed to photograph a pair of paradise shelduck swimming in the waters of Halfmoon Bay.

The female paradise shelduck is far prettier than the male

We then took a Bravo Adventures kiwi-spotting tour (http://www.kiwispotting.co.nz) lead by Phillip Smith. These tours have had a 6 year success rate and we were not disappointed. On the ferry in, we saw some distant Stewart Island shags, a New Zealand fur seal and some little penguins. Once we'd arrived, we walked a trail towards a beach where we got great views of 2 southern tokoeka. We also heard several moreporks calling.

As flash is (for obvious reasons) not allowed, this was the best photo I got of the tokoeka

BIRDING NEW ZEALAND DAY 3: Invercargill to Stewart Island

The morning began just as the forecast said it would: cloudy and rainy. Thankfully, as we were eating breakfast the rain cleared up, allowing us to see tui, New Zealand bellbird and silvereye at close range from a nearby feeder. We decided to do one last fernbird walk, just after the rain ended. This was extremely successful: by whistling them in we got close views of 4 fernbirds, one of which was just sitting on the trail!

This fernbird was far more trusting than the warblers of other countries

We checked out of the B&B and briefly visited the Southland Museum to look at Henry, the 110-year-old tuatara. We had lunch, dropped our rental car off at the Invercargill airport and then took a shuttle to the Stuart Island ferry's departure point. On the jetty, multiple kelp gulls, red-billed gulls, great cormorants and little pied cormorants could be seen. At 4:30 the ferry left. The conditions were extremely calm, but even so I saw several distant white-capped albatrosses and many lifer common diving-petrels. We also saw a medium-sized penguin swimming on the waves, but it dove before we could identify it.

This common diving-petrel came quite close to our boat before diving down

When we arrived at Stewart Island it was 5pm. We checked in to Stewart Island Lodge and walked down to get dinner at the South Sea Hotel. On the way, we saw several kaka, many tuis, 2 paradise shelducks and some variable oystercatchers.

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

BIRDING NEW ZEALAND DAY 1: Dunedin

I recently travelled to New Zealand. Most of the trip was spent on the South Island, though we also spent 3 days in Wellington for a conference. The trip began in Dunedin, where we stayed at the Lanarch Castle. The castle had large gardens which I explored in the morning. Some of the commoner New Zealand endemics were visible here. A feeder near the castle was home to many New Zealand bellbirds. In flowering trees, distant tui could be seen: a lifer for me. Finally, several New Zealand pigeons were flying around the property. Several introduced species were also present: house sparrow, chaffinch, blackbird, Eurasian starling and song thrush all being seen.

The New Zealand pigeon is often seen while driving in the New Zealand countryside

New Zealand bellbirds are extremely common, we saw them often during the trip

Our first stop of the day was the Orokonui Ecosanctuary, about 30 minutes drive from the castle. We started walking along the kaka trail at about 9:30 am. The feeders were alive with bellbirds and tui. After about a minute of waiting, a feeding flock of magnificent lifer kaka swept through the area, giving us our first views of the endemic parrot. We then headed towards the Robin Valley Trail. We stood along the first third of the trail and silently waited. A flock of distant lifer brown creepers made their way through the canopy. Eventually, our target, a lifer South Island robin, flew down and briefly checked us out. On the way back, a male tomtit perched near the path and allowed close views.

The kaka on South Island are slightly more colourful than their North Island cousins

Tui gave us great views at the sanctuary's many feeders   

 The male tomtit has a beautiful yolk-yellow wash to his chest

A horrible shot of one of the brown creepers at Robin Valley

We got lunch in Dunedin, then drove back to the castle. After a few minutes rest, we went to Penguin Place for a 3 o'clock tour. While walking past several little penguins, we saw New Zealand fur seals hauled up on the rocks. Variable oystercatchers were common here. We walked down to an area of trenches, from which we observed a pair of yellow-eyed penguins. Just before heading back, we scanned the beach for birds and managed to see a yellow-eyed penguin rise from the water and walk across the beach.

A pair of variable oystercatchers stares down a young New Zealand fur seal

Jim and Maggie are the names of these two yellow-eyed penguins

A yellow-eyed penguin strides slowly across the beach

A NIGHT AT LITTLE DESERT

After learning that birders had previously seen barn owls in the Little Desert area, my family and I decided to travel there for a night.
We arrived at Little Desert Nature Lodge at around 6 pm. On inquiry, we found out that some of the staff had also seen the owls. We decided to look for them on the way to get dinner, not really thinking that we'd be lucky enough to find anything. About 6 kilometres from the lodge, I spotted the characteristic ghostly white form of a barn owl hunting over a paddock. Over the rest of the night we viewed many of the birds close up from our car, as well as spotting 2 tawny frogmouths and a swift Australian owlet-nightjar crossing the road.

Despite the many barn owls we encountered, I was still only able to get this photo

This tawny frogmouth stood still and allowed us to take plenty of pictures

The next morning we walked the Nature Trail of the Little Desert Lodge. The bush was alive with birds. Commoner species such as New Holland honeyeaters, red wattlebirds, laughing kookaburras and yellow-rumped thornbills were seen, along with white-throated treecreepers, scarlet robins and 2 lifers: weebills and yellow-plumed honeyeaters. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good picture of the weebills, though I managed a distant shot of a honeyeater. Many Western grey kangaroos were present as well. Finally, we got a look at the lodge's resident emu, George.

This yellow-plumed honeyeater stood still just long enough for me to photograph it

In contrast, the multitude of yellow-rumped thornbills allowed far better photography

George the emu's booming call could be heard throughout our walk

Western grey kangaroos are, to my knowledge, the only kangaroos in Little Desert

It was a great trip and I hope to visit Little Desert again.

WHITE STORKS

The white stork, Ciconia ciconia, is a common sight in much of rural Germany. In many towns, it is welcomed as a harbinger of Spring when it migrates back from Africa. It uses abandoned chimneys and similar structures in these towns to nest. While birding the Havelland area with Rolf, we saw several of these nests. Here are some photos of the birds at their nests.

This was the first white stork we saw. You can see two of her chicks crying out for food.

Job done, the stork prepares to leave

This nest was atop a building holding a house martin colony

This stork had a room with a view, perched atop an old church

A better view of where the stork has nested

BIRDING BERLIN: The Havelland Area

On our last full day in Berlin, my father and I went on a birding tour with Rolf from birdingberlin.com. We saw a wide variety of birds, most of which were new for us.
We first arrived at a railway station in the Havelland area, where Rolf agreed to pick us up. While in the station area, we saw a distant common buzzard. Interesting songbirds in the area included a serin and a female black redstart, though I only managed to photograph the serin. Soaring overhead was a distant red kite, as well as an equally distant Eurasian sparrowhawk. 

This serin was singing loudly from the top of a tree

This shot of a red kite really doesn't do the bird justice

We then visited a forest. Here we saw several new birds, though I didn't manage to photograph them. Species seen included house wrens, great spotted woodpeckers, a single wood warbler and several young blue tits. The main star of the visit to the forest was a pair of two distant common cranes. 

Through Rolf's scope, the beauty of these common cranes was far more evident

After that we visited a village filled with the nests of white storks. I will not put any stork photos in this post and will instead post a gallery of the storks we saw. There was also a colony of house martins. Singing in a nearby shrub was a lesser whitethroat, though we couldn't get a good look at it. Finally, while we were there two Eurasian kestrels flew into the village. One attempted to harass a stork, but to no avail.

A house martin at its nest

This Eurasian kestrel was perched high on a church, near the nest of a stork

The next stop was a wetland. Here the birds were quite distant, so again Rolf's scope was put to use. Through scanning the area we spotted red-necked grebes, mallards, gadwalls, Northern shovelers, Eurasian wigeons, little grebes, red-crested pochards and greylag geese feeding in the water. A distant western marsh harrier, along with a few soaring black kites and common buzzards, hunted over the area. Finally, in the trees on the far side of the wetland were 2 calling Eurasian cuckoos.

In this flock of waterfowl, coots, red-crested pochards, gadwalls and mallards can be seen

A distant red-necked grebe. We saw 2 of these grebes performing a courtship ritual

Another distant grebe, this time a little grebe

This Eurasian cuckoo was calling loudly, but only showed itself for a few seconds

In case you haven't seen enough distant birds, have a look at this Western marsh harrier

We had lunch and followed a trail to an observation tower. On the way to the tower Rolf found a small moor frog (Rana arvalis). This tower overlooked reeds on one side and a colony of common terns and black-headed gulls on the other. While watching the reeds we saw a variety of birds: reed warblers, greater reed warblers, reed buntings, chiffchaffs and sedge warblers were all present. Rolf and my father also got a brief glimpse of a penduline tit, but nobody else in the group could find it before it flew off.

The chiffchaff's only real distinguishing feature is its song

Moor frogs are common in much of Europe

The common reed warbler is smaller and not as loud as the great reed warbler

Several sedge warblers were flying in and out of the reeds

Black-headed gulls and common terns were in abundance at the colony

Our next stop was another observation tower. This tower overlooked a large protected grassland, where great bustards could be found. We had no luck with the bustards, but saw a variety of birds in the area around the tower. From the tower, several common cranes could be viewed through Rolf's scope. The tower itself was being used as a nesting ground by barn swallows, who squawked angrily at us as we walked up to the top floor. Yellow wagtails, white wagtails, corn buntings, skylarks and linnets were all present in the area around the tower, though of these I only got good photographs of the buntings. A small pond held a single moorhen. The best bird we saw from here was a distant male hen harrier, soaring leisurely over the grassland. 

Many of these barn swallows were calling at us

This corn bunting came quite close to the tower before flying away

On the way to our final destination, we stopped because Rolf had heard the call of an Ortolan bunting. We managed to get some glimpses of the bunting flying off, but didn't get any photos of it. However, we did get photos of a chaffinch who we initially mistook for as the bunting. We stopped once more to view a distant osprey nest. The nest was also being inhabited by some Eurasian tree sparrows, using the osprey's presence as protection from predators.

Though not an Ortolan bunting, this chaffinch was still a nice find

Our final stop was the Guelper See. This large lake held many Greylag geese, along with distant common terns, black-headed gulls and Caspian gulls. A single Northern lapwing could be seen far away, along with an even more distant black tern which we viewed through Rolf's scope.

Greylag geese are quite common in Germany

After that very successful trip, we took the train home. If in the area I would highly recommend Rolf's services as a guide: he knew the calls of all the birds, easily identified them and took us to a variety of habitats. You can find details about booking tours with him on birdingberlin.com.