New Zealand - Part 8: Albatrosses

Part 8: Albatrosses

Where to start?  Two pelagic trips out of Kaikoura on the east coast of South Island to look for albatrosses and other sea birds and I was not to be disappointed.  Thank goodness there was a guide at the helm who was able to identify the various species that cam e in to squabble and fight over the "chum" that was put out at the stern.. Indeed, I eventually had to resort to a short lens as the birds were so close; so close that, given the opportunity, they would, literally, have been feeding out your hand.

My notebook records that we saw Wandering,  Northern Royal, Salvin's, White-capped Albatrosses on the first pelagic (27 February) and the same plus Southern Royal on the following day.  A full list of the birds seen on these two pelagic trips is given at the end of this section.

Wandering Albatross  Diomedea exulans

 

 

 
 

 

Southern Royal Albatross  Diomedea epomorphora


Northern Royal Abatross  Diomedea sanfordi




 Salvin's Albatross  Thalassarche salvini

 

White-capped Albatross  Thalassarche steadi

 Birds seen on the two pelagic trips:

Wandering Albatross, Northern Royal Albatross, Southern Royal Albertross, Salvin's Albatross, White-capped Albatross.

Northern Giant Petrel, White-chinned Petrel, Westland Petrel, Flesh-footed Petrel, Cape (Pigeon) Petrel.

Pink-footed Shearwater, Hutton's Shearwater, Buller's Shearwater.

Little Blue Penguin

Australasian Gannet

Spotted Shag

Southern Black-backed Gull, Red-billed Gull, Black-billed gull, Caspian Tern, White-fronted Tern, Back-fronted Tern.

New Zealand - Part 7: Smaller Sea Birds

Part 7:  Smaller Sea Birds

In this section I have included all the other sea birds other than Albatross so, mainly, Shearwaters and petrels but not forgetting the only penguin we recorded, the Little Blue Penguin Eudyptula minor.  I may have labelled this section "Smaller Sea Birds" but there was certainly nothing small about the Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus which, as you will see in some of the photographs below, was more than able to hold its own when fighting of the ravaging larger albatrosses.

 

Little Blue Penguin
Eudyptula minor

(A very sleepy individual below having chosen to roost immediatle next to th emain path to the beach!)

  

Buller's Shearwater Puffinus bulleri (above and below)

Cape Pigeon (Pintado Petrel)
Daption capense

Four photographs of the Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus below accompanied by Cape Pigeons and showing that it is more than able to hold its own against the larger and more powerful albatrosses present.

 Unknown petrel, possibly Parkinson's Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni from rather broad and square tail.

And who is this little chap?

 Westland Petrel Procellaria westlandica (above and below)

 

 Yet another petrel wating for identification

New Zealand - Part 6: Shags

Part 6:  Shags 

Shags or Cormorants?   Not really the sixty-four dollar question when you speak to the local birders.  Whilst their Shags look like Cormorants, all Cormorants in New Zealand are called Shags.  So, no iconic features that you might associated with European Shags; they are all a variant on the same thing, some big, some small, some without markings others not too dissimilar to our own Cormorant.

But rather than one of each, excluding the Mediterranean Shag sub-species, there are six in New Zealand plus a further six which seem to be endemic to a specific island.  I think I am right when I report that we managed to see all but Great Shag of the six main species whilst we in the country and now have to check whether or not I actually photographed all; I suspect that I will need to trawl through the original photos to find the Spotted Shag.

Black Shag
Phalacrocorax carbo

 










Little Black Shag
Phalacrocorax sulcirostris

 

Little Shag
Phalacrocorax melanoleucos
(Also above and below)

 (Below) Four photographs of the Pied Shag Phalacrocorax varius (my favourite)

Spotted Shags Phalacrocorax punctatus at their breeding colony

An isolated individual juvenile shag - presumably a Black Shag Phalacrocorax carbo