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Trip Report New Zealand 2004 Simon Plat, Maaike Poppinga |
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Birding New Zealand
Strategy
Books and maps
Accommodation
Relevant links
Downloads (trip report, triplist and checklists)
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Once completely dominated by birds, New Zealand proved to be a natural
experiment in the evolution of birds. Consequently some of the weirdest
birds live in New Zealand. Unfortunately things have changed since the
last 400/500 years and this fragile But there is hope. More and more islands are made predator free and reintroduction of rare species like Stitchbird (Notiomystis cincta, Geelbandhoningeter) and Saddleback (Philesturnus carunculatus, Zadelrugspreeuw) -completely gone from the mainland- are doing well on those islands. Even the presumed extinct Takahe (Porphyrio mantelli - Takahe) has a new future on those islands. Fortunately most of those island are welcoming visitors. Additionally pest control on the mainland is working well at some spots and a relatively big part of the New Zealand landscape is officially protected. New Zealand has traditionally been a very popular tourist destination, consequently the country has a well developed tourist infrastructure. The country also has a long history of bird watching visitors. Combined with the fact that almost everybody is hooked to the internet, this makes preparing a trip to New Zealand an ease. The extreme diversity of landscapes including some of the most dramatic ones on earth makes a trip to New Zealand a must to travelling birders. Yet, in my opinion, the fun of birding in New Zealand is tempered significantly by the abundance of introduced European birds and the scarcity of the native birds. Only the impressively abundant sea life including seabirds like albatrosses, petrels and prions make up for the lack of mainland birding fun. Don't expect to collect a big birding list. The mean three week expectation does not exceed 100 species, plus an additional 25 introduced species. As can be expected a big part of this list will be seabirds, collected at several pelagics and ferry rides. In my humble opinion there's really only two ways of birding by overseas
visitors: twitching the rare and endangered land birds and sea birding.
The first can be hard work as some of the specialties can prove hard to
get while the last is one of the greatest birding experiences I had in
my birding carrier. So my first advise is: make sure you fit several pelagics
into your itinerary. Finding all the endemics in one trip with limited time might prove impossible, especially since the brown kiwi complex is split into four different species. See the Finding the endemics section for details on finding target birds. A three week trip is definitely too short to do the country justice. Four weeks might be enough to find most of the mainland endemics when all works out well and weather is not interfering too much. Six weeks and more gives you time to see most of the country and enjoy the landscape. A good preparation is the key to a successful birding trip in New Zealand.
Most pelagics are scheduled so you should find a way to plan them into
your itinerary. Some excursions should be booked months prior to the trip,
but on the other hand you might need more time at some spots if the weather
is bad or the birds don't cooperate. So it can be very difficult to make
a proper trip plan. The following actions should be taken way ahead of
your arrival in New Zealand: Almost all the specialties can be found without help but some can take
a while. Kiwis are always difficult to get your eyes on, an To get a good sea bird list you best try to hook on pelagic trips from:
See the section Finding the endemics for details on specific species. See also the sections for specific information on that spot. Renting a car is relatively cheap and easy. Infrastructure is great all over the country and camping in the wild is even encouraged. You might consider renting a residential vehicle but those are a bit more expensive. In the section Itinerary we added information on prices of the different accommodation and excursions. We used the following bird guides: The hand guide to the birds of New Zealand by Hugh Robertson & Barrie Heather and illustrated by Derek Onley (1999). This is the small version of the book, lacking the detailed species information. This version is good enough for visiting birders but background information is limited. For example the rarity of vagrants is not mentioned. Subspecies information of species like albatrosses is very limited and additional footage on this topic is advised. The complete guide to Antarctic Wildlife by Hadoram
Shirihai and illustrated by Brett Jarrett (2002). Great book, good reading
and useful background information on sea birds and mammals. We didn't
take the whole book (too heavy) but made colour copies of most of the
25 plates. Especially the text describing the several subspecies of albatrosses
including lots of identification hints is extremely useful. Birds of New Zealand - Locality guide by Stuart Chambers (2000). Still the best guide for finding good birding spots, but some information is outdated. This book has the disadvantage that is covers too many topics! It includes a section on identification of NZ birds which is partly redundant but partly useful in addition to the hand guide. Every described bird has a where to find section but this information is not standardised and the fact that no maps are provided makes it very difficult to use the book for planning an itinerary. Some spots don't produce the target birds mentioned anymore and that also makes it difficult to plan a trip by this book. Where to watch birds in Australasia & Oceania by Nigel Wheatley (1998). This book also covers New Zealand. Only a few spots are mentioned but these spots are very relevant and the information is still exceptionally up to date. The following road map was good enough to find our way around: New Zealand Road Atlas by Kiwi Maps. This map book has enough detail to find your way, even in cities. Detailed maps are provided for all major cities. It is easy to get it in New Zealand, for example at most car rental companies. It is easy to find proper accommodation all over the country. Camping is easy and it is stimulated to camp in the wild. We didn't camp since the weather was a bit too cold and wet. We mostly used cabins and onsite vans on campgrounds. Cabins are mostly between NZ $ 40,- and $ 50,-. The "holiday Park" cabins, available in most larger cities are very good and advisable. Most cabins have up to 6 beds. Here's some accommodation advise: Miranda Shorebird centre: at walking distance from great birding including one of the best spots to find New Zealand Dotterel (Charadrius obscurus, Rosse Plevier). Price for one night: $ 50,-. Contact information: Miranda Shorebird centre Tui Song - Stuart and Allison Chambers: beautifully situated in Orewa, just north of Auckland and a good place to stay before heading to Tiritiri matangi (about 1 hour drive). Birding around their premises and in the area is good, with species like New Zealand Grebe (Poliocephalus rufopectus, Nieuwzeelandfuut) present and Tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae, Toei) very common. Contact information: Tui Song Homestay Tiritiri Matangi dorm: it is advised to stay a night on Tiritiri Matangi, especially to find Little Spotted Kiwi (Apteryx owenii, Kleine Grijze Kiwi). Overnight stay is possible in dorms. Contact information: Phone number +64-9-476 0010 At all other places accommodation is no problem and is offered in good variety. Only twice we had a problem finding last minute accommodation: in Whitianga due to a triple marriage in town and in Queenstown a lot was fully booked during our stay. Trip reports and web portals New Zealand
Download this trip report (DOC - 155 kB) Download this trip report (PDF - 289 kB) Download an extensive checklist including subspecies information (XLS - 281 kB) Download an extensive checklist including subspecies information (PDF - 168 kB) |
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ecosystem is taken over by all kinds of introduced species. Dozens of
bird species became extinct and a lot more became threatened of which
some are at present among the rarest birds in the world. Introduced birds
took over the landscape and at present they are more common than the natives.
organised
tour to find those is advised. The company 
