News Archive

Brent is updating his B1RDER blog daily with a trip report and images from each day.  Easiest way to see what his group is up to on tour is to head to https://b1rder.blogspot.com Enjoy!  

The group gathered at the Hotel, we loaded the van and off we headed, to the rugged and wild West Coast.  As we approached the coast, it certainly looked like it had been rugged with salt spray hanging in the air and making visibility reduced.  But as the morning...

Update from Kaikoura. Calm conditions and no wind can make seabirding a bit of a challenge, but the two Kaikoura pelagics certainly did not disappoint.  Fabulous close up views of stunning seabirds is what it is all about.  Over the 2 trips we had 6 Gibson's...

DAY 14  Heading south on the West Coast, the first stop was at a sewage ponds just outside Hokitika - well it is a birding tour!  NZ Scaup, Grey Duck and Aussie Shoveler were seen. A bit further down we did some more roadside birding as watched our first Great Egret...

Another 21-day tour started with Phil Hammond leading on Tuesday, and so they are now on Day 4. Sounds like things are going really well for them also, as they head to Tiritiri Matangi today. They had excellent views of North Island brown kiwi on the first night, and...

So Neil Robertson is now on the South Island, Day 11 of the tour. They have been having a great time so far, with some real highlights! Epic Hauraki Gulf pelagic, with good numbers of NZ storm-petrels (up to six in view at once), a Wilson's storm-petrel that hung...

DAY 10  Before catching the ferry south, we headed back to Foxton Beach and the tide was coming in, and pushing all the birds towards us. Bar-tailed Godwit, Red Knot, Pacific Golden Plover, Banded Dotterel, plus two Wrybill (always a favourite). Scopes and bins...

DAY 7  In the van at 6:00am and at 6:08am we where watching a stunning female Blue Duck, that sat up on a rock for the next 40 minutes. Then onto the next site, and to our next new bird, a very showy Australasian Bittern that flew over our heads a couple times before...

DAY 4   One the highlights of the tour is overnighting on Tiritiri, and it did not disappoint. The first birds seen were a pair of Kokako, followed by NI Saddlebacks, NI Robins, stunning stitchbirds, and a bit of a bonus was a showy female Rifleman and Whiteheads. In...

This in from Matt Jones who is a few days into the first 21-day birding tour of the season...   "DAY 1 A wet start to the tour, looking at NZ Pipits in the rain showers, other highlights a pair of Fairy tern's mating in front of us! Pair of Aussie Little grebes. And...