Page 16 - 2008 NZ SUB ANTARCTIC ISLANDS - SMARTPHONE

Even the professional birders among our naturalists enjoyed the wonderful experience of seeing
several species of albatross, giant petrels, and other birds so close behind our birdwatching boat.
These birds were so close that it was difficult to use binoculars to focus on them. The Captain’s
mate threw out a frozen bait mixture of ground fish parts inside a netball. It didn’t have to float
long on the water’s surface before huge albatross began closing in on their long, elegant wings:
we had Northern and Southern Royal Albatross, Shy Albatross, Salvin’s Albatross, Gray-headed
Albatross, Wandering Albatross, with both Pintado and Giant petrels in the melee around the bait
ball. It was incredible to be so close to these enormous birds and see their interactions when
quarrelling among themselves and with others species over the food. Albatross can be aggressive
and they have loud braying calls as well as sharp staccato bill clicking when agitated. So we had
it all—visual and audio looks at these magnificent birds. It was a banquet for the camera-bearers
for sure. We were also lucky enough see Dusky Dolphins and the smallest of all Dolphins, the
Hector’s, unique to New Zealand, and the lovely and exceedingly rare blue shark.

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Because commercial whaling ended here in the mid-20 century, the whales have made a
comeback and return to this area of great upwellings all during the year. The folks who chose to
go whale watching were rewarded with good views of three sperm whales during their boating
adventure along with many of the birds and mammals we on the bird boat saw. Though
somewhat contrived, our wildlife experience in Kaikoura was splendid and exhilarating.

While hiking along the headland of the Kaikoura Peninsula, we saw many birds, native and non,
as well as red-billed gulls, and a fur seal haul out. The headland was quite beautiful with
wonderful sea views, waving (non-native) grasses, with blue cloud tossed skies overhead. But
the wonderful thing we learned about here was another DOC program to rescue the Hutton’s
Shearwater, a native seabird whose numbers are declining rapidly, probably through loss or
degradation of their usual habitat for breeding.

The only place in New Zealand where these birds breed and nest is in the alpine valleys above
Kaikoura. The researchers with DOC decided about three years ago that this area was no longer

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