South Island - Westland
We flew on a mileage ticket to Christchurch to visit the south-west corner of New Zealand. We had been to this area briefly a year before and loved it. The alpine scenery is stunning, yet low enough that there are no altitude problems. The surviving New Zealand bush is remarkable. New Zealand was isolated for so long, its native plants look really nothing like Australia's. (I'm told there is one native gum in all of New Zealand.) We had a great time visiting the native forests, empty beaches, and taking a cruise on Milford Sound.
Looking for the Fiordland Crested Penguin
About the Penguins
Seeing birds is a great excuse to visit beautiful places. On this trip, we were hoping to see the Fiordland Crested Penguin (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus), called the Tawaki in Maori. There are about six species of small, closely-related crested penguins in the world, the Fiordland being the only one to breed on the New Zealand mainland. The rest of the year, they're out to sea. November is towards the end of their breeding period, so chances are good of seeing them on land.
Jackson Bay: "They're Easy to See"
After arriving in Christchurch, we spent a day near Aoraki (Mt. Cook) getting some poor looks at the Black Stilt (Himantopus novaezelandiae) and enjoying a sunny day in this beautiful country.
Where the Black Stilts were. (Aoraki in background.)
The next day, we drove out to Haast Beach. This is about the last town before Jackson Bay, a small coastal fishing community south of Haast. Numerous sources had told us that the penguins are easy to see here. Despite rain and clouds, we set out. It's stunningly beautiful, if damp, countryside and we were filled with hope. Down on the beach, we did see a pair of Variable Oystercatchers (Haemotopus unicolor) in their all-dark phase as well as a pair of Blue Shags (Stictocarbo punctuatus steadi) and big collections of Black-Backed Gulls (Larus dominicanus).
No penguins.
New Zealand's native bush is lush temperate rainforest.
Penguins in the Mist
After wandering around in the rain for the better part of the morning, we stopped to assess our original instructions. The location "Jackson Bay" couldn't mean the town itself, could it? The penguins are shy and probably don't like the beach near the fishing pier and handful of houses. We figured that, being sensible creatures, they might prefer a less trafficked spot slightly up the coast at Neils Beach. This is yet another lovely area filled with the songs of native birds such as the Tui and the Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis), a common bird self-introduced from Australia in historical times.
It was absolutely pelting rain but, covered in our $2 fits-in-your-pocked-when-new-but-then-never-to-be-refolded-into-anything-better-than-a-huge-ball-of-plastic raincoats, we set out along the beach. In the far distance, we could see a spit of land covered in birds. Birds standing on shore, facing away from the sea like a troop of tiny soldiers. Exciting. We slogged our way up the beach to get a closer looks at the "penguins" in increasingly heavy rains. Working our way along the water's edge behind some dunes we managed to get close enough for a look through the pelting rain. Finally, we were rewarded with a soggy view of about 35 Black Shags (Phalacrocorax carbo) standing together in a very penguin-like way. Still no penguins.
Knights Point Viewpoint
After accepting defeat in the Jackson Bay area, we headed back to our caravan park to eat some lunch and dry off. Afterwards, we headed north to try more suitable habitat. We pulled in at Knights Point Viewpoint as it is a lovely spot, and we saw a group of people with a spotting scope and serious binoculars. They were a nice party of Dutch birdos touring the South Island. They too reported "No penguins". Like us, they had been assured the penguins are "easy to see in Jackson Bay". There was a Tui calling in the bush by the parking lot and plenty of New Zealand Fur Seals far below resting on a small, isolated beach.
Munro Beach
We had read that Ship Creek and Munro Beach are both suitable locations for the penguins, so we carried on north. Ship Creek is immediately off the road, so we decided to press on to Munro Beach. The trail to the beach takes about an hour and runs through some beautiful bush. Like the rest of the trails in the southland we've seen, it's beautifully maintained with good signage, a picturesque suspension bridge, and quality erosion-control construction. This would be an idyllic spot for forest birding on a sunny morning. We headed directly to the beach as we were going to run out of light otherwise. After reaching the beach, the light rain picked up again to pelting rain. No penguins. Ten minutes later, as we were turning to leave, we finally saw a penguin on the far end of the beach waddle up out of the surf and back into the rocks at the bottom of the cliff where they nest. Penguin! Absolute joy. They're really the most charming animals imaginable.
Where the penguin was.
Milford Sound
A hanging valley above Milford Sound.
We had a much easier time viewing the penguins on a Milford Sound boat tour. At this time of year, the penguins are often seen near the end of the typical tour, not far from where the sound merges with the sea. There was a small party of penguins sunning on the rocks, carefully hopping between stones, and preening. We had some good looks and it was a beautiful sunny day.
There's a penguin on the rocks, really.
Here's a closer peek at the same penguin.
Lock Your Doors, There Are Kea!
On our previous trip to the South Island, our main birding goal was to see the endemic Kea (Nestor notabilis). We did find them and were really looking forward to seeing them again.
Kea with mountains in background.
A Kea and Mouna eye each other suspiciously.
Kea's are singular birds. They're the world's only alpine parrot and do remarkably well on various animal intelligence tests, even putting primates to shame. (Read a plain language article by a Kea researcher.) Big, bright, curious, and clever. Kea are notorious for shredding rubber and canvas they find in their environment. This includes tents, shoes, and a remarkable range of car parts. While most Kea are shy and out of view, some of the males frequent car parks in mountainous areas and work the crowd in groups. These guys really love to chew on gaskets. Sometimes, two Kea will distract you hopping back and forth while a third sneaks up on top of your car for a good chew.
No one knows why Kea are so curious, playful and (from our point of view) mischievous, but some theorize it's because of they need to be good at problem solving to survive in their harsh environment. They clearly are good at what they do because they have survived. In historical times, Kea have suffered persecution from ranchers because they were blamed for attacking sheep.
One of New Zealand's roughly 8,523,245,671,898 sheep.
This charge is not entirely groundless as the Kea have been filmed eating carrion and attacking sick animals. This behavior makes sense once you know about the Moa. Before the arrival of the Maori, New Zealand didn't have any terrestrial mammals and did have about the weirdest collection of birds on the planet, including a group of enormous birds called Moa. The Moa ate grass, and bites out of the Moa would have been part of the Kea's diet. Alpine parrots weren't the only ones to enjoy this tasty bird. "Moa" is the Maori (and Hawaiian) word for "chicken". No European ever saw a living Moa as they were eaten down to the last bird by the Maori.
Mmmmmmmm...chicken.
Books
The Hand Guide to the Birds of New Zealand (2001) by Hugh Robertson and Barrie Heather is the standard field reference for New Zealand's birds. (Amazon US | UK) This book has excellent notes and a modern layout but the illustrations are not to the highest standard. Worth complementing with the Reed photographic guide.
The Reed Field Guide to New Zealand Birds (1996/7) by By Geoff Moon is a high-quality photographic guide to New Zealand's birds. (Amazon US | UK )Photographic guides never seem to be adequate on their own but this one does flesh out some of what's missing from the plates in the Hand Guide.
Birds of New Zealand - Locality Guide (2000) by Stuart Chambers is the only printed site guide for New Zealand. (Amazon US | UK) We've used this locality guide on three trips now and always found it extremely helpful. Like any locality guide, you have to assume some details have changed and understand that rare wild birds are not always going to be where you want them. Note that an updated version with maps should be out shortly, if it isn't already in print when you read this.
Lonely Planet New Zealand (2004) is a handy guide, if you want locality maps and short site descriptions. (Amazon US | UK) You can also pick up very good maps at the airports and tourist information offices in any city or attraction.