It's not every day that someone phones to offer you a helicopter trip out to Mason Bay to count New Zealand Southern Dotterels ...

Many people don't associate Stewart Island with waders - we have the whole population (around 300) of Southern New Zealand Dotterels...

So out with the old and in with the New Year. 2012 was a good birding year for me, adding eight new birds to my New Zealand list...

My first lifer in New Caledonia was in airport car park! The common Grey-eared Honeyeater ...

We all drive cars, but it's concerning when an oil company turns up on the doorstep of Rakiura National Park ...

Twitching from Stewart Island is different to the UK as I can't just jump in the car at 3am to be there at first light ...

Wildlife is never predictable.  I got a message from Jules to say that a rare Snares Crested Penguin had turned up at the ferry terminal ...

Everyone departed the boat extremely happy and Mark Carwardine said it was one of the best wildlife experiences he'd had ...

Tui singing in the garden, veggies growing, cutting the grass in my t-shirt, Shining Cuckoo added to my garden list ...

I turned round to give someone a high five, but I was on my own. That's twitching on Stewart Island for you!

A house move during the height of the guiding season was a bit challenging but the new garden list started off very well ...

After more than 13 years of being predator-free, Ulva Island had an invasion of rats over the Christmas period...

At this time of year the Pelagic season starts up and Aurora Charters have a new skipper called Ty ...

My commute to and from work is in darkness. Kakas have always been fairly abundant in the township, which we do take for granted somewhat...

A ten minute walk down to the wharf in the dark serenaded by Kaka's calling is not a bad start to the day ...