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Northern India Birding Trip

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Northern India Birding Trip NEW ZEALAND – 07 – 28/11/2016 Itinerary Day 0 - 07/11: Flight Bruxelles – Dubai (Dubai) Day 0 – 08/11: Flight Dubai – Auckland Day 1 – 09/11: Muriwai Gannet Colony – Tawharanui Park (Warkworth) Day 2 – 10/11: Hauraki Gulf Pelagic – Tawharanui Park (Warkworth) Day 3 – 11/11: Waivera Sewage Pond - Tiritiri Matangi Open Sanctuary (Tiritiri) Day 4 – 12/11: Tiritiri Matangi Open Sanctuary – Waipu Estuary – Trounson Kauri Park (Donellys Crossing) Day 5 – 13/11: Waipu Estuary - Miranda (Thames) Day 6 – 14/11: Rotuara Lake – Pureora Forest – Lake Taupo - Turangi (Ohakune) Day 7 – 15/11: Ruatiti – Otaki (Pimmerton) Day 8 – 16/11: Wellington city (Wellington) Day 9 – 17/11: Crossing to Picton – Malborough Sounds (Lake Nelson) Day 10 – 18/11: Lake Nelson – Arthur’s Pass – Okarito Kiwi Tour (Okarito) Day 11 – 19/11: Franz Joseph Glacier – Haast Bridle Track – Twizel area (Twizel) Day 12 – 20/11: Twizel area (Twizel) Day 13 – 21/11: To Te Anau – Homer Tunnel (Te Anau) Day 14 – 22/11: Milford Sound boat trip – Homer Tunnel (Te Anau) Day 15 – 23/11: Nugget Point (Bluff) Day 16 – 24/11: Stewart Island – Ulva Island – Kiwi Tour (Oban) Day 17 – 25/11: Stewart Island Pelagic (Oban) Day 18 – 26/11: drive to Oamaru (Oamaru) Day 19 – 27/11: Oamaru - To Christchurch – Flight to Auckland – Flight to Dubai Day 20 – 28/11: Flight to Bruxelles New Zealand – 2016 1 Acknowledgments Thanks to Nils Bouillard for his help for the organization. A big thanks to Phil Hammond and Andy Livermore for their advices and up-to date information during the tour. Getting there - flights We flew with Emirates, services on board was perfect. We had a 16hours direct flight between Dubai and Auckland. Departure 07/11/2016: Bruxelles (2h25 pm) – Dubai (08/11/2016 00h05 am) 08/11/2016: Dubai (10h05 am) – Auckland (09/11/2016 11h10 am) Return 27/11/2016: Auckland (21h15 pm) – Dubai (28/11/2016 5h35 am) 28/11/2016: Duabi (8h20 am) – Bruxelles (12h45 pm) Getting around – transport Domestic flights Christchurch - Auckland o Company: Jetstar o 27/11/2016: 14h45 – 16h05 o Price: 318$ NZD Car rental Company: Jucy Car Rental o Pick-up: Auckland Airport o Drop-off: Christchurch Airport o Car: Hyundai i30 o Price: around 500€ Ferry Crossing The car rental via Jucy Car Rental includes the crossing with Interislander ferry. Due to the earthquake the schedule was changed but they do their best to allow us to embark. Thanks for their help and flexibility! Accomodations I pre-booked all accomodations, mainly via Booking. Lodging was very good at most place. Warkworth – Annies B&B: confortable accommodation and great home-made breakfast. Only negative point is the location along the SH1N, it’s very noisy! Tiritiri Island – Bunkhouse Trounson Kauri Park : Birdsnest Holiday Home Thames : Rolleston Motel Ohakune : LNKZ Lodge Pimmerton : Moana Lodge Wellington : Hotel Waterloo & Backpackers Nelson Lakes : Nelson Lakes Motel Okarito : Okarito Kiwi Cottage: try to avoid this accommodation if you can. We paid 110$ NZD and it was very basic! Twizel : High Country Lodge, Motels & Backpackers Te Anau : Fiordland National Park Lodge Bluff : http://www.blufflodge.co.nz/ Stewart Island : South Sea Hotel Oamaru : Old Bones Lodge New Zealand – 2016 2 Food Please note that usually restaurant closes early, around 8pm. Take-away and fast-food stay opened later. Supermarkets like Countwodn stay usually opened until 10pm. People People we met during the entire trip were very friendly and helpful. Weather The weather was good most of the time. We get some heavy rain from Turangi to Wellington and in Stewart Island. Temperatures were good most of the time, between 16 and 20°C. Some chilly morning, especially around Lake Nelson. A storm hits Stewart Island on our last day and prevent us to cross early morning as planned, we finally cross around 3pm but the sea was very rough! References There are lots of trip reports available through www.cloudbirders.com but most of them are from tour companies, good to know which species to look where but they did not provide precise info. Bird sounds I collected lots of bird sounds from http://www.xeno-canto.org/. Literature We took with us the following literature: Birds of New Zeland : A Photographic Guide The Hand Guide to the Birds of New Zealand Kiwi’s and Pelagics Kiwi Strategy o Best strategy is to walk slowly, stop regularly and listen to their footsteps. Stay on the path until the bird come close to you and use a red light. Don’t blind them too long! Northern Island Brown Kiwi o You can easily see this kiwi by yourself at 2 places: Trounson Kauri Park and Tawharanui Park. Little Spotted Kiwi o Quite easy to see on Tiritiri Island if staying overnight Okarito Kiwi o Best option is to book a tour with Ian Cooper o All information available here : http://okaritokiwitours.co.nz/ o Price: 75$/pers Southern Brown Kiwi o The BIG DECEPTION of the trip, I will not recommend it! o It was quite guarantee to see this kiwi by doing a tour with Philip Smith but few weeks ago he stopped his activity and the company Real Journey took over the business. o They allow 2 groups of maximum 15 pers at the same time! They are using a bright light torch and are scanning continually the beach and the bushes. I just have a poorly view of 1 bird in the bushes. New Zealand – 2016 3 o Following a bird team leader I met it’s the 1st time in 51 times that he doesn’t see the kiwi and was very disappointed! He also said that most of the sightings were of bird feeding on the beach. Following the new “guides” from Real Journey all sightings are now made along the trail in the bushes. o Several sightings of Kiwi have been reported early morning on Uva Island. Mybe it’s a good idea to arrange a private water-taxi to reach the island before the crowd. o Price: 140$/pers, full refund if no kiwi is seen by no one in the group. Pelagic Wrybill Tours are running pelagics on a regular basis at this time of year. These pelagics are guanratee because they are part of the tour they are leading. I did 2 pelagics with them o From Warkworth . THE pelagic to see the New Zealand Storm Petrel (we saw 4 different individus) . Price: 280$/pers o From Stewart Island . Price: 320$/pers Kaikoura pelagic: due to the earthquake that happened on the 13/11 the city was completely inaccessible and we had to cancel our pelagic. New Zealand – 2016 4 Sites visited – North Island 7 6 4 2 3 5 1 8 9 10 11 12 13 1 - Muriwai Gannet colony Location: -36.832739, 174.424285 Best species seen: Australian Gannet, White-fronted Tern 2 - Tawharanui Park Check the lagoon at -36.374079, 174.820266 for Brown Teal. We heard and saw North Island Brown Kiwi and South Island Takahe at -36.372316, 174.838632. Best species seen: North Island Brown Kiwi, Brown Teal, South Island Takahe, New Zealand Kaka, Morepork New Zealand – 2016 5 3 - Waivera Sewage Pond Sewage ponds at -36.541001, 174.690811 hold most of the waterfowl species. New Zealand Grebe is breeding at -36.542706, 174.684522, good view from -36.542050, 174.684113, Best species seen: New Zealand Grebe 4 - Hauraki Gulf Pelagic Boat is leaving from the pier at -36.388750, 174.729902. Parking available for 6$/day at -36.389899, 174.728937. Best species seen: Little Penguin, White-faced Storm Petrel, New Zealand Storm Petrel, Fairy Prion, Cook’s Petrel, Black Petrel, Buller’s Shearwater, Flesh-footed Shearwater, Fluttering Shearwater, Weka. 5 - Tiritiri Matangi Open Sanctuary You can get lots of information from this website. Staying overnight is the only option to see the Little Spotted Kiwi. It’s possible to stay overnight in the bunkhouse but booking is essential well in advance. You can book online via the Department of Conservation. Ferry access can be booked via 360 Discovery. 1h30 from Auckland, or 20 min from Gulf Harbour. Only return ticket on the same date can be purchase online, if staying overnight you must contact them by mail. Notes on some difficult species o Brown Teal: visible from the pond next to the wharf. o Spotless Crake: normally visible from the pond next to the wharf but this year the water level was so high that no beach were present. o Rifleman: there is pair breeding near the compost next to the bunkhouse. o North Island Kokako: we saw it 4 times for at least 6 individus. This species can be seen anywhere. I met several “one-day” visitor that were not able to see this species. o New Zealand Fernbird: very easy along the North east Bay Track track at -36.596, 174.891. Best species seen: Little Spotted Kiwi, Brown Teal, South Island Takahe, Red-crowned Parakeet, Rifleman, North Island Kokako, North Island Saddleback, Stitchbird, Whitehead, North Island Robin, New Zealand Fernbird. 6 - Waipu Estuary Park at -35.997088, 174.480430. From the parking there is a small track to the left which will bring you to the deeper water channel which can be viewed from the raised embankment. We went there at hight tide and we saw 2 birds sitting approximatevly at -35.993467, 174.483105. The next day at low tide one bird was feeding on the channel and sitting at -35.994499, 174.482384. Best species seen: Fairy Tern 7 - Trounson Kauri Park There is boarder walk starting from the campground at -35.721549, 173.652002.
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