Auckland, New Zealand

["John Barkla" <>]

A big thank you to the following people who suggested places to visit around Auckland, New Zealand:

Richard Loyn
Peter Woodall
Peter Ewin
Penny Drake-Brockman
Mike Carter
Jann & Ross Mulholland
Gil Langfield
Ross Silcock

Our difficulty was we could spare only a weekend (Friday night, Saturday and Sunday until our return flight Sunday at 6.00 pm).

Overwhelmingly, the places recommended were Tiritiri Matange Island and the shorebird centre at Miranda on the Firth of Thames.  Having now made the trip, we can thoroughly recommend both places.  We also called in to the Mangare Sewage Works which is very close to the airport, just before we were due to depart.

Our bird list (using probably out of date names from a very old book I have) was:

Blue Penguin - 2 in artificial burrows on Tiritiri
New Zealand Dabchick - 3 Mangere Sewage Works
Fluttering Shearwater - 5 on way to and from Tiritiri
Australasian Gannet - 8 on way to and from Tiritiri
Great Cormorant - odd birds in many places
Little Black Cormorant - 1 on Tiritiri, 15 Miranda, 5 Mangare Sewage Works
Pied Cormorant - 4 Tiritiri Matange, 15 Miranda
Little Pied Cormorant - 3 Tiritiri
White-faced Heron - odd birds in many places
Royal Spoonbill - 5 Miranda
Black Swan - 1 Mangare Sewage Works
Canada Goose - 1 on way to Miranda
Paradise Shelduck - 2 Tiritiri, 10+ on pasture on way to Miranda, 18 Mangare Sewage Works
Mallard - 4 on way to Tiritiri, 100's Miranda and Mangare.
Grey Duck - 1 "true looking" pair Mangare Sewage Works
Grey Teal - 2 Mangare Sewage Works
Australasian (referred to in my book as New Zealand) Shoveler - 2 Miranda
Marsh Harrier - single birds commonly seen
Brown Quail - common on Tiritiri
Takahe - 5 on Tiritiri
Pukeko (Purple Swamphen) - 15 Tiritiri, 5 Mangere Sewage Works and others
South Island Pied Oystercatcher - 1000's Miranda, 15 Gulf Harbour
Variable Oystercatcher - 2 Miranda, 2 Gulf Harbour
Spur-winged Plover (Masked Lapwing) - many
Double-branded Plover - 12 Miranda
New Zealand Dotterel - 1 Miranda
Wrybill - 200+ Miranda (a great little bird!!!)
Bar-tailed Godwit - approximately 100 Miranda
Curlew Sandpiper - 2 Mangere Sewage Works
Pied Stilt - 1000's Miranda and 5 Mangare Sewage Works
Dominican (Kelp) Gull - common
Red-billed Gull - 50+ on trip to Tiritiri, 100's Miranda
Caspian Tern - 7 Miranda
White-fronted Tern - 6 Tiritiri, 2 Miranda
Feral Pigeon - many
Spotted Turtledove - 30 Mangare Sewage Works
Eastern Rosella - 8 on trip to Miranda and back
Red-crowned Parakeet - 30 Tiritiri Mangere
Sacred (referred to in my book as New Zealand) Kingfisher - 1 Tiritiri, 12 day trip to Miranda
Skylark - many on farmland on Miranda trip
Welcome Swallow - 100's Mangere and Miranda
Whitehead - 15 Tiritiri Matange
Grey Warbler - 2 heard on Tiritiri, none seen
Fantail - 10 on Tiritiri, others elsewhere
North Island Robin - 2 Tiritiri
Song Thrush - 10 Mangare Sewage Works
Blackbird - many
Silvereye - 30 to 40 Tiritiri, common elsewhere
Stitchbird - 1 female, 4 males on Tiritiri Matange
Bellbird - common Tiritiri
Tui - 20-30 Tiritiri
Yellowhammer - 100's around Miranda
Greenfinch - 1 Miranda
Goldfinch - 10 Tiritiri and elsewhere
House Sparrow - common
Starling - very common (1000's)
Common Mynah - moderately common (100+)
Saddleback - 20 Tiritiri
Kokako - 1 or 2 heard, none seen
Australian Magpie - 15+ on trip to Miranda and others

 
We are looking forward to going back and seeing more of the endemics, including Kiwis.

Regards

John and Gabrielle Barkla

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