In addition to my dolphin tour, I went on the Albatross Encounter offered by Encounter Kaikoura. Kaikoura is home to many species of Albatross including the wondering albatross as well as many of the “smaller” species (which are still huge). In addition to Albatross, you see many other terrestrial as well as pelagic sea birds. On our trip, the ocean was nearly flat with very little wind. This was good for keeping the camera study, but not so good for seeing albatross in the air. They need the wind to get air born. Most of the great and wondering albatross were just bobbing about on the water. We did see many of the smaller species in the air though. They seemed to be less picky/lazy.

A Salvin's albatross soars low over the water.

The albatross were something between amazing and totally comical. Their wings are so huge, even compared to their large bodies, one wonders how they don’t break a wing frequently. Their landings on the water are essentially a mild crash (they don’t seem to go much for style points) and they often unfurl their massive wings during squabbles so that two or more birds have the 1 to 2 meter wings sticking straight up while they snap with their beaks. However, while in the air, the efficiency of their bodies can be seen. They rarely flap their massive wings and glide very low over the water. I routinely saw them drag wing tips in the water while turning.

New Zealand is the land of birds and ferns. Before the Māori arrived 800 or so years ago, the only land mammals on the islands of New Zealand were several species of now extinct or severally endangered bats. As a result, New Zealand was and still is a land of birds and ferns. Of course, I’ve already posted about kiwis. Here are the rest of the terrestrial birds I managed to photograph. There are of course, other birds that I didn’t manage to get a decent (or any) picture of.

Keas

The kea (Nestor notabilis) is an alpine parrot endemic to the alpine areas of south island of New Zealand. Keas are intelligent and curious, like most parrots and are known for pulling the rubber from parked cars. They have also been known to steal sunglasses, cell phones or just about anything else.

Keas are very curious and will investigate you if you allow them. In this case, the kea is investigating the camera.

I’ve been struggling with how to blog my New Zealand trip for a while and I’ve finally decided to do it by subject instead of narratively. Since New Zealand is the land of the kiwi, I’ll start with them!

Adrian really wanted to see kiwis in the wild, so we booked a guided kiwi spotting trip with Ruggedy Range (who put together a well run and pleasant trip). Kiwis are normally nocturnal. Steward Island is the only place where they can possibly be seen foraging during the day time in the wild. Even so, they are very skittish and private. We spent three days hiking, looking for kiwis and saw 3 for a total of about 20 minutes all together. Of course, kiwis are also well camouflaged. I failed to photograph the first kiwi we saw. I couldn’t pick it out and ended up photographing a brown clump of grass by mistake. Only when I reviewed the image did I realize my mistake, seeing the actual kiwi on the edge of the frame. All the pictures here are from our second and third kiwis.

The kiwis on Stewart Island are Stewart Island Brown Kiwi (Apteryx australis lawryi) and are endemic to that island alone.

A brown spotted kiwi forages in the underbrush.

Disclaimer: These blogs are usually a joint effort. I put in a rough draft…then Andrew fixes it up and makes it pretty. Andrew is on his own adventure right now, so this blog is all me and not as pretty.

I spent 3 fantastic days camping with penguins at Cape Royds! How cool is that? Three days camping in Antarctica with penguins and a historic hut… Really it doesn’t get much cooler than that.

Cape Royds camp is spread over volcanic rock. The yellow tent in the foreground belongs to the soil researcher. The Soctt tent (pointy) in the background is a permanent camp fixture. The rack tent (blue), is the communal tent and has power. Solar panels allow the researchers to charge their laptops daily. You can't see it, but there is even an antenna tower for internet!

Yesterday did not go at all how I expected it to. But sometimes that can be a very good thing.

I could totally be a Weddell seal! No difference at all.

All great blue herons are named George.

A Tucan tosses a nut while trying to crack it.

I need to figure out what all the various birds I took pictures of are, but in the mean time, I figure I’ll just start posting the pictures that I like.