November 9-27, 2025 with Dan Lane & Michelle Green & Michael Burton-Smith (ext. to Nov. 29)
New Zealand is an interesting contradiction for birders: it doesn’t have a particularly large list of endemics or species overall, but it is home to some of the most unusual birds on the planet, not to mention more inshore seabird diversity than any other large landmass! As such, it is a “must visit” nation, and so we did. Our tour took us from the south end of the country, Stewart Island (also called Rakiura in Te Reo Maori, the language of the Maori people), north through the South Island, visiting first the cool temperate rainforests of Fiordland (and getting to see said rain firsthand!), then to the Otago Peninsula, the open plains and Southern Alps of the Mackenzie region, the grandeur of Arthur’s Pass (albeit in rain again), Kaikoura and its amazing sealife, and the beautiful Queen Charlotte Sound area. From here, we took the ferry across to the North Island, and almost immediately visited the magical Kapiti Island with its rustic beauty, some opportunity to see a little of Maori culture firsthand, and to hear the cacophony of native bird voices both in the evening and the next morning! Onward, we made a few stops for some targets on our way to the impressive Tongariro National Park, home to some volcanoes in the center of the island, and thence to Lakes Taupo and Rotorua, with their geothermal properties, up to the shorebird spectacle of Miranda, and finally to the Auckland region, where our comfortable lodging gave us access to Tiritiri Matangi, the final outing of the main tour, and, fittingly, a wonderful last birding stop, where we enjoyed large numbers of native forest birds. For those who continued for the next few days on our extension in Northland and out on the Hauraki Gulf, we managed to eke out a few more species before getting onto the boat, and that pelagic really delivered! Our local guides Michelle and Michael both did heroic acts in driving us from one end of the country to the other, and keeping us on logistical track, making sure we were well-fed, and seeing a good variety of birds, scenery, and learning about the history and culture of New Zealand. To them, we owe a great debt of gratitude for their willingness to show us their home country!
Our tour has left with us an abundance of memories that I think we will all enjoy well into the future! Perhaps the most noteworthy would be our kiwi outing on Stewart Island our first night together when we saw 5 (!) individuals (and heard several others) of South Island Brown Kiwi! What a treat! We followed this with hearing both Little Spotted and North Island Brown kiwis later on the tour (that’s 3 of the 5 species of kiwi!). One of our group members even had a kiwi walk up and sniff his socks! Not sure what it meant that it shortly thereafter ran back into the bush… Our overnight on Kapiti Island, where we heard Little Spotted Kiwi, was our second most appreciated experience, and it was very special, between being able to interact with with our hosts, seeing the natural beauty of the island, and hearing the sounds, it all really stood out as an experience distinct from all the rest. For several of our participants, the Kapiti island experience was part of the general pleasure of visiting several predator-free islands over the course of the tour, including Ulva, Blumine, and Tiritiri, each of which had its own charm. Of course, the many boat trips and pelagics we took along the way resulted in a wealth of wonderful experiences: the Northern and Southern Royal albatrosses we saw off Otago and Kaikoura, the Antipodes Wandering Albatross that easily took control at Kaikoura, the three-penguin trip off Stewart Island that netted us Little, Fiordland, and the rare Yellow-eyed penguins, the screeching Northern Giant-Petrels as they squabbled over dominance at the chum block, the crowds of shearwaters of many species on the Kaikoura pelagic, the ferry crossing, and perhaps most impressively, the Hauraki Gulf trip, where a lost Streaked Shearwater (NZ’s fourth record!) kept us company for quite a long time! That last pelagic also earned us fine views of three species of storm-petrels (the bouncy White-faced, or “sea-roos”, the scarce endemic-breeding New Zealand, and the unexpected Wilson’s that were a life bird for Michael!). Also on our boat trips, we enjoyed a smattering of other sea life such as a few whales (Sperm, Bryde’s, a breaching Humpback), dolphins (Dusky, Bottlenose, and Common), NZ Fur Seal and NZ Sea Lion, and even a few sharks (such as the Blue and Hammerhead just off the boat in the Hauraki Gulf!). Another boat trip that left a mark was the rainy visit to Milford Sound, where our waterfall show was off the charts! And of course, we can’t forget the common, but stunning (when closely inspected), Red-billed Gulls that we encountered most days, and I hope haven’t been smuggled back in the US by Marcus!
We did enjoy our forest hikes, both in “mainland” forests such as in Fiordland and Pureora, which both were so mystical in their respective flora, such as the beeches, the silver ferns, and the majestic podocarps, but also on the offshore islands, where we enjoyed most of our native landbirds. Among the latter were species with wonderful names such as the Takahe that galumphed around the cabins on Kapiti, the musical Tui that performed aerial displays as they produced a wide variety of sounds, and the unbelievable views of Kokako we had at Tiritiri! Also on these hikes, Michael took pains to point out other wildlife such as the Roukana geckos in their day hideouts. In higher elevations, we also enjoyed the antics of the Keas, and Molly Hill, friend of Susan and Frank, who told us of her interesting work trying to decode the communications among some of these incredibly intelligent birds! Keas call the Southern Alps home, and seeing that mountain range, particularly the fresh snow on Aoraki (Mount Cook) at dawn was yet another memory we’ll cherish. Shorebirds also were among the many highlights of the tour, with several species being northern hemisphere migrants that arrived to fatten up on the flats of NZ before returning North again in a few months. Among these were the famous Bar-tailed Godwits, who recently completed unknown adventures as they flew non-stop from Alaska, as well as the trio of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers we spotted at Miranda. Local breeders such as Wrybill, oystercatchers, and a smattering of dotterels, lapwings, and plovers rounded out the picture!
In all, we had the opportunity to see a large variety of New Zealand’s landscapes, enjoy its food, hear quite a lot about its history and culture, and see the results of its active efforts of conservation of its native flora and fauna. We hope that more strides are made in that last aspect, and that a predator-free New Zealand is a possibility in the future, so that its native avifauna will remain a feature that future generations can enjoy! Meanwhile, I thank you all for participating in this visit with me, and hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did! Perhaps we’ll see one another again in another destination ready to spot some more birds!
Mammals seen:
Common Brush-tailed Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula): dead on road (DOR)
West European Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus): DOR
European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
European Hare (Lepus europaeus)
Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus): Milford Sound.
Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis): Hauraki Gulf extension.
Dusky Dolphin (Sagmatias obscurus)
Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus)
Bryde's Whale (Balaenoptera brydei): Hauraki Gulf extension.
Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae): for those who did the whale watch.
New Zealand Sea Lion (Phocarctos hookeri)
New Zealand Fur Seal (Arctocephalus forsteri)
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/436989
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/nez25TRIPLIST.pdf
-- Dan (the Barbet)