Dragons & penguins, sharks & albatross
- Matt
- Apr 8
- 25 min read
At the end of September 2025, I left my Island home and flew to Bali in Indonesia, to join the Heritage Adventurer for two back-to-back voyages. For a month I’d be travelling through Indonesia, West Papua, Papua New Guinea, The Solomons and Vanuatu. The last time I was in Bali was way back in 1989 … the place was a lot busier and built up!
The journey to Bali included an eight hour lay over in Sydney. So I drank a lot of coffee, did some work on the laptop, ate a nice panini - and did some birding! I found a quiet spot - not easy in a busy international airport - but the large windows overlooked a park and a river. I saw: Feral Pigeons x6, Crested Pigeon x1, Silver Gull x10, Australian Ibis x14, Willie Wagtail x1, Australian Raven x3, Welcome Swallow x6, Tree Martin x7, European Starling x1, Common Myna x 5, and Australian Magpie x1. A bit bird nerdy I know but it killed some time!
I had a few days birding in Bali before I joined the ship and I’d found a nice quiet guest house. I was up before sunrise and while waiting for my taxi I heard an uncommon but familiar call of a Nightjar. Savanna Nightjar. Lifer! I watched a pair of them flying around above the roof tops, an awesome start. A Yellow-vented Bulbul called from a nearby bush, Spotted Doves and Tree Sparrows were also seen in the early morning gloom. My taxi arrived and the driver was a little confused when I asked to be dropped off at a sewage pond!
Nusa Water Treatment Ponds is a well-known hotspot for the birdlife. It has two large lakes and several smaller ponds the size of rugby pitches, surrounded by some mangroves, large trees and a small park at one end.
I spent the next few hours walking around seeing some great birds. Herons seen: Nankeen Night Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Little Heron (Striated), Javan Pond-Heron, Purple Heron, Little Egret and Great White Egret. Waders included plenty of Common Sandpipers and 2 or 3 Wood Sandpipers. A dart of bright blue whizzed past - it was a Small Blue Kingfisher. Nice!
A few Little Terns were hunting over the water and joined by a lone Juvenile White-winged Tern. Little Black and Little Pied Cormorants stood like statues in some dead trees playing hide and seek at the back of one the ponds. I spotted a small family of Sunda Teal - like a darker version of our Grey Teal - but it was another new bird for me.
It wasn’t all water birds. The bushes that surrounded the ponds held a few new birds for me. Ornate Sunbirds in their golden plumage, a couple of Malaysian Pied-Fantails flicked through (fantails are always busy), a couple of Bar-winged Prina, Javan and White-headed Munia, plus the clonking call of a Sunda Crow flying overhead.
A Freckle-breasted Woodpecker flew in above me and landed, then was joined by another. This was a bird I had been hoping to find – they look like a very stripey Great Spotted Woodpecker.
Movement in a bush caught my eye. A couple of Pink-Necked Green-Pigeon were trying to hide while eating small berries. The heat of the day was gathering momentum so I finished my great morning’s birding with a Common Greenshank, a pair of White-breasted Waterhen, and a single Intermediate Egret. That afternoon I walked from the guest house to a local beach restaurant and watched a local kite flying festival (not the birds, the ones attached to long strings)!
The following morning, I walked from the guest house along a canal to a tidal beach. The canal walk was productive with Common Iora, Black Drongos, Yellow-vented Bulbul, Olive-backed Tailorbird, Malaysian Pied-Fantail, Collared and Small Blue Kingfishers, Ornate Sunbird, Javan and White-headed Munias, not forgetting the Eurasian Tree Sparrows and Spotted Doves. The canal became a river which emptied into the sea. Once on the beach, waders became the main focus: plenty of Common Sandpipers around the river, 1x Beach Thick-knee, 6x Greater Sand-Plover, x4 Javan Plover, 3x Eurasian Whimbrel, x3 Grey Tailed Tattler, 1x Common Redshank, 2x Common Greenshank, 1x Red-necked Stint. Little Terns hunted on the ebbing tide, Little Egrets, Great white Egret, Striated and Javan Pond Herons fed on small fish that were trapped in tidal pools, Black-Crowned Night Herons flew over to the daytime roost, and Cave Swiftlets and White-nest Swiftlets hawked insects over the beach. An incredible pre-breakfast morning of birding!
Next morning, I was back bright and early at Nusa Water Treatment Ponds. I find it amazing that in some parts of the world, water treatment ponds (aka sewage or poo ponds) are fenced off with razor wire. It would be harder getting out of a prison! But here, as long as didn’t get in the way of the team working on site, it was fine.
The birds were just as good as my first visit. The same good selection of herons, a couple of new tern species, Gull-billed and Whiskered Tern joined the Little Terns. Common and Wood Sandpipers, plus White-breasted Waterhen were also seen. A couple of White-browed Crakes were hiding on a small island and I re-found the Freckle-breasted Woodpeckers.
In the surrounding bushes I found White-shouldered Triller, a stunning pair of Small Minivets (a bird I hadn’t seen since Sri Lanka back in 2005), Common Iora, Bar-winged and Plain Prinia, Scaly- breasted and White-headed Munias, and Olive-backed Tailorbirds. On one of the islands, I saw a pair of Javan Myna’s. A Large-billed Crow flew over with that clonking call followed shortly by the smaller Sunda Crow.
I saw a family of 12 Sunda Teal which included a few fresh ducklings. Looking towards the sky, three Lesser Frigatebirds circled over, then out of sight. Pacific Swallows hawked over the ponds catching bugs on the wing, often joined by Cave Swiftlets. More Pink-necked Green-Pigeons were seen, plus a single Zebra Dove in amongst the larger Spotted Doves.
On the final morning before I joined the vessel, I took an early morning walk along the canal again down to the beach. Three Savanna Nightjars flew over, Black-crowned Night Herons headed to roost. Also seen were Striated, Purple, and Javan Pond-Herons, Little and Great White Egrets a pair of Blue-tailed Bee-eaters. Compared with my visit a couple of days earlier, wader numbers and species had dropped, proving that this small beach was a migrant stopping location.
After breakfast, I packed my gear and caught a cab to the hotel where ship staff were staying the night before joining the vessel. I would be on the ship for around month doing two back-to-back trips. The first voyage was from Bali in Indonesia, sailing through the islands, north into West Papua then Papua New Guinea and finishing at Madang in PNG. The second voyage was from Madang in PNG, down through the Solomon Islands to Vanuatu, finishing in Port Vila.
Both voyages would be focused on culture, snorkelling, wildlife and birds, which is where I come in - but you have to be rigidly flexible! I would drive zodiacs, supervise snorkel sites etc. and most days there would be a birding group. I was joined by another very experienced guide and birder Phil Hansbro. Phil is from Yorkshire in the UK but has lived in Australia for the past 20+years, and he was also on both voyages.
These voyages are such busy trips there is little time to sit back and take it all in. So, for the purpose of this edition of latest news, I will pick out a few highlights.
At Komodo National Park, we set foot on the sandy beach early in the morning and were greeted by a snoozing 4 metre long Komodo Dragon. The world’s largest monitor lizard, they can grow 10 meters in length and weigh up to 155kg. They have a fearsome reputation and have been known to attack and kill humans for food. Thankfully they don’t have to eat that often, and all the dragons we saw were either full or asleep.
We found some great birds as we walked around the island. First heard and then seen was the super rare Yellow-crested Cockatoos. Green Imperial-Pigeon, Barred Dove, a couple of Helmeted Friarbird (never the best-looking bird!), Tenggara Whistler gave its melodic call, a Black-naped Oriole flew through, and at least three Sunda Pygmy Woodpeckers fed in a dead tree. Wallacean Drongo and the stunning looking Black-naped Monarchs were a little more common. We found at least four Green Junglefowl, strutting through the forest and got a brief look at a Spotted Kestrel. While we waited at the beach we noted Eastern Red-rumped Swallows hunting on the wing. What a great morning!
At Buru Selatan, along an old logging road Moluccan Swiftlets flew around, plus local endemics Buru Friarbird, Buru Oriole, Buru Golden-Bulbul and Buru Flowerpecker and Buru Spangled Drongo were all seen. Moluccan and Grey-streaked Flycatcher were seen from the road. Black Sunbirds were everywhere, plus the occasional South Moluccan Sunbird, Amboyna Cuckoo-Dove and Superb Fruit Dove. We also found Black Eagles, Spotted Kestrels and the more common Brahminy Kite.
The West Papuan island of Palau Mutus had one small village and a tiny population. You probably could have walked around it in twenty minutes! We did wonder if we find any birds at all, but in three hours we had found well over thirty species. A lot of them were waders on migration. 1x Grey Plover, 2x Pacific Golden Plover, 10x Lesser Sand Plover, 11x Greater Sand Plover, 1x Little Whimbrel, 1x Eurasian Curlew, 2x Red-necked Phalarope, 2x Common Sandpiper, 2x Grey-tailed Tattler, 7x Ruddy Turnstone, 1x Red-necked Stint.
It wasn’t all waders, offshore we saw plenty of Black Noddys, Little Terns, Common Terns and a lone Whiskered Tern. Black-naped and Greater Crested Terns.
Lesser Frigatebirds were joined by a single Greater Frigatebird, three species of Kingfisher, Sacred, Collared and the stunning Beach Kingfisher. Singing Starling were plentiful, a single Moluccan Starling was found, Varied and Brown Honeyeaters and Willie Wagtails seemed to be around every corner, and the pair of Grey Wagtails looked out of place!
Another major highlight was the chance to snorkel with Whale Sharks. These gentle giants only number around 200,000 on the planet. The largest ever confirmed was an individual that was nearly 19 metres in length. I had run the snorkel shuttles all morning so that the guests could get to snorkel with these amazing creatures. Ship staff also had a chance to get in with them - I had bought a Go-pro for just this opportunity! Wow it was a bucket list moment!
A couple of very early morning starts at West Papua provided a chance see Birds of Paradise. Wilsons Bird of Paradise is in the top five birds that a birder wants to see and it didn’t disappoint.
The Arfak mountains was an amazing place. We arrived in the dark and were sitting in a makeshift hide. Within moments we were looking at Western Parotia. What an incredible bird and display. The light was awful so you might have Google photos of this bird! At the next hide we saw a Vogelkop Bowerbird attending his bower. Other birds seen were: Vogelkop Lophorina, Brown Sicklebill, Vogelkop Whistler, Dimorphic and Black Fantail, Arfak Honeyeater, Western Papuan Lorikeet, Drongo Fantail. Not a big list, but what a list, and all seen before midday!
We did two Zodiac cruises along the Sepik River in northern Papua New Guinea. Birds came thick and fast: Superb Fruit-Dove Orange-fronted Fruit-Dove, Orange-breasted Fruit-Dove, Claret-Breasted Fruit-Dove, Zoe’s Imperial Pigeon, Pinon’s Imperial Pigeon, Collared Imperial Pigeon, and Torresian Imperial Pigeon. Plus, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Boyer’s Cuckooshrike, White-bellied Cuckooshrike, Black-browed Triller, Blyth’s Hornbill, to name but a few.
At the end of the two weeks, guests disembarked the ship at Madang, and the next two-week voyage began with new guests onboard and we set sail that evening. Sea time overall wasn’t very bird-filled but there was always something to see. On one part of the Bismark Sea we saw Wedge-tailed and Streaked Shearwaters, Heinroth’s and Tropical Shearwaters. Terns seemed to be the most abundant species: Sooty, Bridled, Common, Black-naped, Roseate, Great Crested Terns. Black and Brown Noddys, a single Collared Petrel, Bulwer’s Petrel seemed a little more regular, Greater and Lesser Frigatebird, Red-footed and Brown Booby.
Bougainville was magic. At Nissan Island we watched Louisiade White-eye and Atoll Starlings, Island Monarchs and Melanesian Kingfishers. Onto Pmar in Bougainville for Pale Mountain Pigeon, Bougainville Honeyeater, Bougainville Hooded Whistler, Scarlet-naped Myzomela, Bougainville and Yellow Throated White-eyes. The Odedi was a skulker of a bird but didn’t want to give itself up.
The tiny Island of Ulu in East New Britan showed some great birds: at least a dozen Nicobar Pigeons, a couple of real surprises were Velvet Flycatchers and Stephan’s Doves (two species of bird that are rarely seen) and we had awesome looks at both.
We left Papua New Guinea and headed south into the Solomons. First stop was Kolombangara, an island I’ve had the pleasure of visiting a couple of times before. Within moments of landing, I had a lifer in the bag (as did everyone else)! Phil played a call, and without hesitation a Roviana Rail walked into the open and across the road.
In the forests we saw plenty of birds: Solomons Corella, Duchess Lorikeet, Cardinal Lory, Coconut Lorikeet. White-capped Monarch, Steel-blue Flycatcher, Solomons White-eye, and Long-tailed Myna. When the huge Blythes Hornbill flew over it sounded like a freight train!
An afternoon on Gizo provided an opportunity to search for the endemic Splendid White-eye. It has a range of three tiny islands so we were fortunate to see at least five birds.
Tetepare Nature Reserve is arguably the Solomons wildlife jewel. This would be my third visit to this amazing island, but I had yet to see Solomons Nightjar that breed here. We split the group into two; those that wanted to search for the Nightjar with me, and those that wanted to go birding not necessarily to search for the Nightjar. So, eighty guests and I jumped into a local boat. The skipper dropped us at a little bay and we followed our local guide into the bush. Our guide explored the area and while we waited for his return we watched Moustached Treeswifts, Common Kingfisher, Beach Thick-Knees, Red-knobbed Imperial Pigeons, Island Imperial Pigeons, Dollarbirds, and Brown-winged Starlings. A Solomons Nightjar flew out across the bay for a brief view and when the guide returned he showed us another Solomons Nightjar that was a little more settled. Boom! What a lifer. On the return journey we spotted a Beach Kingfisher, Melanesian Kingfisher, Little Kingfisher, Singing Parrot, Long-tailed Myna, Dark-eyed White-eye. We also saw Solomons Cicadabird, Melanesian Megapode, Metallic Pigeon. What a day on an amazing island.
At Nendo Island we found Palm Lorikeets, Nendo Whistler, Santa Cruz Fantail, Sandford’s White-eye, and Rusty Winged Starling and Red-bellied Fruit Dove. These islands just keep on giving!
From the Solomon Islands, we headed south into Vanuatu. The real stand out day here was at Espirtu Santo. We had fantastic morning’s birding, finding the endemic Vanuatu Whistler, Vanuatu-Streaked Fantail, Yellow-fronted White-eye and the stunning Buff-bellied Monarch, which was one of my favourite birds of the trip.
As well as Melanesian Flycatcher and South Melanesian Cuckooshrike, we stumbled on Vanuatu Megapode. A bird that gave us the run around was the Vanuatu Kingfisher, which we heard calling all the time, but only got brief flight views. After a couple of hours searching, we walked back along the track and a Vanuatu Kingfisher landed right in front of us! We had a dip in wonderful cool and refreshing sink hole and while drying off we added Tanna Fruit Dove, Fan-tailed Gerygone and Pacific Kingfisher to an awesome day’s birding list.
Our final full day of the trip, I was driving the Zodiac most of the afternoon, giving the local kids rides around the ship. At Port Vila the next morning we disembarked the ship. I’d had a month at sea, snorkelling, zodiac driving, guiding, and birding. It was an incredible couple of voyages, with amazing birds, fantastic friendly people, and awesome memories.
Some of the staff, including me caught the flight to Nandi in Fiji, and then to Auckland. We arrived around midnight completely shattered. I got into an airport motel and was asleep in seconds. By 7:30am the next morning I was on the flight down to Christchurch, then Invercargill, and home to Stewart Island.
I had five nights at home before heading away again to start a 21-day Wrybill Birding Tour of New Zealand. Four of the clients I knew from my old birding days back in Kent in the south of the England. Here, I will just write an overview of the tour as opposed to a full trip report. The weather certainly played its part! We had no wind on the Marsden Pelagic so didn’t even see a Pycroft’s Petrel. A day later the weather went to custard and we could not overnight on Tiritiri Matangi, so missed out on finding a little Spotted Kiwi, but overall I think we scored more than we missed.
Birding highlights were many. In the North Island we had great looks at New Zealand Storm-Petrels on our first pelagic, plus a couple of Little Shearwaters and an awesome pod of Orca as we returned to the harbour. We had fantastic views of a couple of Fairy Terns; North Island Brown Kiwi was seen. Our day trip to Tiri was very successful, with magic looks at North Island Saddleback and North Island Kokako and North Island Robin, Stichbirds and Whiteheads.
Further south at Miranda, we added a few classy waders to our list. Wrybill, New Zealand Dotterel, Pied Stilts, Red Knots and Bar-tailed Godwits, not forgetting the Sharp-tailed and Curlew Sandpipers. A native bit of forest held our New Zealand Falcons of the tour, plus Yellow-crowned Parakeet and Shining Bronze Cuckoo. We had great looks at a family of Blue Ducks - parents teaching their fresh ducklings how to swim in the fast-flowing river. Very cool!
The next morning, we had flight views of a pair of Australian Bitterns. Then down into Hawkes Bay for a top up on a few more waders: Variable and South Island Pied Oystercatchers, Pied Stilts, Pacific Golden Plover, Black-fronted Dotterel, Masked Lapwing, Banded Dotterel, New Zealand Dotterel, Eurasian Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, Red Knot, and a lone Red-necked Stint, and Royal Spoonbills. As we walked back to the van a Rook flew over. The clients (who were all Brits) were not as impressed as I was!
The next morning, we picked up our first New Zealand Pipit and then went on to have great looks a very showy Spotless Crake before heading across Cook Strait to the South Island.
A morning on the water near Picton, we had fantastic looks at New Zealand King Shags and Hectors Dolphins. On a small island we found Weka and a pair of super rare Orange-fronted Parakeets, ultimately seeing around six birds in total as well as another rarity, the South Island Saddleback. On the way back to shore we found a single Pacific Reef Heron.
Further south we saw at least four Glossy Ibis building nests. This bird is a recent self-introduced species to New Zealand. At a small roadside lake we had awesome looks at least eight Hoary-headed Grebes, another new arrival to New Zealand that is now breeding. Along with the Hoary’s we found a couple of New Zealand Dabchicks and at least two Australasian Great Crested Grebes. There can’t be many (if any) lakes in New Zealand where you can see three grebe species. Not a bad start for day one on the South Island.
Our first pelagic in the South was at Kaikoura. If you are a birder, and you are in Kaikoura, then you are on a pelagic. We saw, x2 Northen Royal Albatross, x7 Gibsons Wandering Albatross, x5 White-capped Albatross, x6 Salvin’s Albatross, 11x Northern Giant Petrels, x9 Cape Petrels, x1 Grey-faced Petrel, x1 White-chinned Petrel, x12 Westland Petrel, 1x Short-tailed Shearwater, x23 Hutton’s Shearwater, x1 Australasian Gannet. Not a bad haul for only a few hours out on the water.
Then through the stunning Southern Alps, down the West Coast seeing Kea and Okarito Kiwi enroute. Our next big highlight was walking up into the mountains from the Milford Road. We crossed running rivers, scrambled over boulders, climbed up through a forest to arrive at a large plateau … climbing higher we were finally rewarded with epic looks at a pair of Rock Wren.
We spent a couple of days at Stewart Island. Ulva Island came up trumps, and we got good looks at Kiwi and Morepork that evening. The next morning, was our final pelagic of the trip which was certainly proved to be a goodie with: x14 Southern Royal Albatross, x70+ White-capped Albatross, x10 Salvin’s Albatross, x1Campbell Island Albatross, x2 Northern Giant Petrels, x50 Cape Petrels, x15 Cooks Petrels, x6 Mottled Petrel, x3 White-Chinned Petrel, x1 Westland Petrel, x1 Soft-plumaged Petrel, x3 Fairy Prion, x1 Antarctic Prion, x2 Grey-Backed Storm-Petrels , x20+ Common Diving Petrels, x2 Southern Brown Skuas, x5 Fiordland-Crested Penguins, x1 Yellow-eyed Penguin, x6 Little Blue Penguins, and heaps of Sooty Shearwaters and Foveaux Shags. So, an epic last trip at sea.
Back on the mainland we had great looks at more Yellow-eyed Penguins, and our final highlight was watching Black Stilts in the rain. The Stilt was our final bird of a very successful trip; we finished with a very respectable trip total of 156 species.
On this trip my trusty 80D Canon camera and 100-400 zoom lens both died. They had seen and photographed penguins in Antarctica, birds of paradise in Papua New Guinea and everywhere in between. My gear has a tough life with travel, salt water, bouncy zodiacs, and extreme hot and cold temperatures.
I had just over a week at home, which included my birthday, then back to Bluff to join Heritage Expeditions as a guide, lecturer and zodiac driver on the BDU (Birding Down Under). Arguably the ultimate birding trip of the Southern Ocean. The trip is around 18 days long. It departs from Bluff and goes to the Snares group, Auckland Islands, Macquarie Island, Campbell Island, Antipodean Islands, Bounty Islands and Chatham Islands. If you’re into seabirds and exploring very remote islands, this is the voyage for you!
Also on this voyage would be Barry Wright, who was also on the Wrybill trip I’d finished a week earlier. It was great spending more time birding with Barry!
An overview of this busy but amazing trip … the weather in the first couple days wasn’t good. Strong winds and rain meant we could not even get the zodiacs in the water at The Snares, however we still managed to see Snares Crested Penguins. The rain settled in while we were on the Auckland Islands. Further South to the Australian Macquarie Island is often the major highlight of these trips. You feel like you have stepped into a BBC David Attenborough wildlife documentary. Even if you have no interest in wildlife or birds, you can’t help but be blown away with the noise, smells and sights. King and Royal Penguins are everywhere, and huge Southern Elephant Seals are snorting, snoring and farting! We spent a wonderful couple of days at this southern gem.
North and back to the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands, we reached a firm favourite of mine, Campbell Island. We had great looks at the shy Subantarctic Snipe, and gaming Southern Royal Albatross.
After a day at sea we arrived at the remote Antipodean Islands, importantly finding the Antipodean and Reischek’s Parakeets, along with Erect Crested Penguin (looking like a grumpy punk rocker). We can’t land on the Snares, Antipodean and Bounty Islands so we do zodiac cruises in the waters around them. The swell was too high and dangerous to even launch the zodiacs at the Bounty Islands this time so we did a ship cruise instead, and were still able to pick out the endemic Bounty Island Shag and a few Fulmar Prions.
Chatham Islands are slightly different because they have a small population living on a couple of these islands. But for the visiting birder they still are home to some super rare birds. The magical Pyramid rock looks like a James Bond villain’s hideaway but is home to the world’s population of Chatham Island Albatross. We were super lucky to spot a single Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross, sitting on the cliff face in amongst the Chatham Island Albatross.
We also saw Magenta Petrel, Shore Plover, Chatham Island Oystercatcher, Chatham and Pitt Island Shags, and once ashore we found Chatham Island Pigeon and Warbler.
A few statistics to digest: we saw x9 Penguin species, x13 Albatross species, x4 Storm-Petrel species, x4 Prion species, x3 Shearwater species, x11 Petrel species. Which adds up to x36 Tube-Noses species, x9 Shag species. x4 Pinniped species x5 Cetacean species, including a new one for me, a huge pod of Hourglass Dolphins that stayed with us for at least 10/15 minutes!
The voyage ended at Bluff and I hopped on the ferry back home to Stewart Island in time for Christmas. I had less than a week at home over Christmas, mainly sleeping, walking our dog Nonu, and then eat sleep and repeat. I joined the ship again on 28th December, this time they picked me up from Stewart Island! We headed to Fiordland which is on the south western tip of the South Island for a couple of days exploring Dusky, Milford and Doubtful Sound. Fiordland is one the largest National Parks in New Zealand, and most people (me included) normally only see it from inland while driving to Milford. It’s always a very different outlook from a ship, especially Dusky Sound, that not many people get to visit. After a couple of days in Fiordland, we headed back towards Bluff on New Years’ Eve, where we farewelled 2025 and welcomed 2026 and sailed through the night.
On the evening of 1st January we headed south for the next 10 days to explore the Subantarctic Islands of the Southern Ocean. The weather was a little calmer on this voyage, so we were able to lower the zodiacs at the Snares the next morning to cruise this incredible group of small islands, which are jammed packed with birdlife. As well as the expected Snares Crested-Penguins, we also saw the Snares Fernbird and the Snares Tomtit.
On the New Zealand list, the Snares Fernbird is seen as a separate species to the mainland Fernbird. The Snares Tomtit is seen as a subspecies of the mainland Tomtits. eBird sees both species as subspecies of the mainland bird. In my humble opinion they should be both be classed as full species. The Snares Fernbird crawls around the rock face, and the Snares Tomtit is all black in plumage. Neither have never been recorded anywhere else other than the Snares.
From the Snares we headed to Auckland Islands for a couple of days exploring Enderby Island and Musgrave Inlet, one of my favourite little bays. Packed with wildlife we saw Eastern Rockhopper Penguins, Antarctic Terns, Light-mantled Sooty Albatross, New Zealand Sea Lions. Just a magical place.
We had a couple of nights at Macquarie Island – another place I will never tire of. Great looks at more Eastern Rockhoppers, Gentoo and Royal Penguins, the classy King Penguins with fluffy chicks, plus good looks at the local Orca pod.
Farther north and back into New Zealand waters to Campbell Island - as mentioned once or twice before, one of my favourite islands! On this trip I was pretty much based in the zodiac all day, running shuttles and cruising, showing guests the epic wildlife that call this wonderful place home. All the islands are so different with different wildlife and very different feel and look about them. Campbell Island to me feels more rugged. Steep valleys and very large hills that tower above you. I guess it does look like a Scottish island.
A day and half at sea for the return journey to Bluff, much of which I spent on the outer decks watching seabirds. I did get a new cetacean on my list – a pod of outrageous looking Southern Right Whale Dolphins. Sorry, no images but it’s worth a Google!
Bad weather delayed my ferry trip home. When I finally got home I felt shattered. I spent the next three and bit weeks at home, back on dog walking duty, and the washing machine & shopping team. At the end of January 2026 I flew from Stewart Island to Invercargill and then up to Auckland, to begin another 21-day tour of New Zealand for Wrybill Birding Tours.
For the purposes of this rather long-winded latest news, I will cover some of the highlights. In the North Island on our first pelagic, we were enjoying great looks at New Zealand Storm Petrels. We headed out to deeper water to a remote sea stack which had 30+ plus Grey Noddys roosting on them. They don’t breed at this location, just roost. It was great to see this tropical bird. The next night we found a showy North Island Brown Kiwi, and a daytime roosting Morepork in the motel grounds.
On our second North Island pelagic we got: x2 Little Blue Penguins, x2 Pacific Reef Herons, x40+ Fluttering Shearwaters, x55 Flesh-footed Shearwaters, x1 Wedge-tailed Shearwater, x15 Cooks Petrels, x1 Black-winged Petrel, x2 Pycroft’s Petrel, x6 Black Petrels, x30 White-face Storm Petrels, x7 New Zealand Storm-Petrels, x1 Fairy Prion, x30+ Australasian Gannets, x2 Brydes Whale. The fly through Black-winged Petrel was a nice bonus, and the Wedge-tailed Shearwater was a very nice surprise - even better it stayed around us for twenty minutes.
Our overnight on Tiritiri Matangi Island had highs and lows. We dipped on Little-spotted Kiwi. Bugger! But had great encounters with North Island Kokako, Stichbird, South Island Takahe, and North Island Saddleback.
Great waders at Miranda with 100+ Wrybill, Pacific Golden Plovers, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Banded Dotterels, New Zealand Dotterels, Bar-tailed Godwits, Red Knots, Pied Stilts, Variable and South Island Pied Oystercatchers. Just as we were leaving, we found a small flock of x7 Eurasian Whimbrel. Around the corner from Miranda, we found the x2 long staying Glossy Ibis, and an Eastern Cattle Egret in its golden breeding plumage which was a bit of a surprise at this time of year.
Over the next couple of days, we encountered Yellow-crowned Parakeets, Blue Ducks, a couple of Australian Bitterns, and nice looks at New Zealand Fernbirds. Before heading over to the East Coast and Hawkes Bay, we found a very obliging Spotless Crake and more waders: both flavours of Oystercatcher, Barwits, PGPs, Banded and New Zealand Dotts, a lone sleeping Wrybill. New birds for the trip were a tiny single, Red-necked Stint and one Black-fronted Dotterel.
On the South Island our first day was jam-packed with southern goodies: King Shags, Orange-fronted Parakeets, Weka, South Island Saddlebacks, and Hector’s Dolphins in Queen Charlotte Sound. At a roadside lake we found at least x4 Hoary-headed Grebes x2 New Zealand Dabchicks, x1 Australasian Great Crested Grebe. And then we stopped watched (and smelled) New Zealand Fur Seals, before finding an introduced Little Owl enjoying the afternoon sun. An incredible first day on the South Island!
Our next day was focused on the seabirds of Kaikoura, with two back-to-back pelagics. The first departed at 6:30am and these are the results: x1 Arctic Skua, x1 Black-fronted Tern, x2 Northern Royal Albatross, x1 Southern Royal Albatross, x6 Gibson’s Wandering Albatross, x2 White-capped Albatross, x2n Salvin’s Albatross, x1 Black-browed Albatross, x1 Southern Giant Petrel, x6 Northern Giant Petrels, x17 Cape Petrels, x2 White-chinned Petrels, x1 Westland Petrel, x1 Flesh-footed Shearwater, x2 Bullers Shearwaters, x2 Short-tailed Shearwaters, x5 Hutton’s Shearwaters. Not a bad two and half hours to start the day.
We went for a coffee break and by 9:30am were heading back out on our second pelagic. These are the results: x4 Caspian Terns, x2 Southern Royal Albatross, x7 Gibson’s Wandering Albatross, x4 White-capped Albatross, x5 Salvin’s Albatross, x1 Black-browed Albatross, x1 White-faced Storm Petrel, x6 Northern Giant Petrels, x8 Cape Petrels, x4 White-chinned Petrels, x1 Westland Petrel, x2 Flesh-footed Shearwaters, x2 Bullers Shearwaters, x2 Short-tailed Shearwaters, x4 Hutton’s Shearwaters, x1 Australasian Gannet. Plus, a small pod of Dusky Dolphins. Another very successful pelagic, and all done and dusted before our sit-down brunch.
Up into the mountains of the Southern Alps, we spotted Kea, South Island Robin, Pipipi and New Zealand Falcon. We do an organised trip with Ian Cooper aka Coops for an evening search for the world’s rarest Kiwi, the Okarito Kiwi or Rowi. Coops played through all the likely scenarios – past experience has meant waiting an hour or more for these birds to walk across the path. Once everyone was in position, we waited and listened.
I could hear large obvious footsteps walking towards me so I stuck my head into a gap in the bushes towards the sound. I signalled to Ian who wasn’t far away. He looked at me a bit puzzled, as if I was taking the piss. When he realised that I was serious he got the group back to together quickly and quietly, just as Rico the female walked out from the thick vegetation. Right in front of us and across the path! It was almost still light! Wow and double wow. What a piece of luck! We skipped and floated back to the van, not only had we seen a kiwi in the wild, but the rarest kiwi to boot.
Next, we travelled down the stunning West coast of the South Island, overnighting in Wanaka. Into the mountains of Milford in Fiordland National Park we stopped at a private piece of land just outside Te Anau which we have permission view. Ian who owns this wonderful spot, has a large man-made lake, which is home to a few Baillon’s Crake aka Marsh Crake. We had absolute fantastic looks at an adult and chick, just a few metres in front of us. Happy with our start to the day, we headed into the mountains and lakes along the Milford Road, found a few Riflemen and more South Island Robins and Yellow-crowned Parakeets in the forest.
At a flowing mountain stream we found an adult and Juvenile Black-fronted Tern and while watching the terns a New Zealand Pipit appeared behind the van.
The following morning we drove to Bluff to catch the ferry to Rakiura/Stewart Island, which would be our base for the next couple of nights. On arrival we caught a water taxi across to Ulva Island - enroute we found a few moulting Fiordland Crested Penguins. They never look their best at this time of year and there are no guarantees that they will even be present. At Ulva Island we only needed to find Yellowhead. We found a large flock that was calling and showing very well. Also seen were Pipipi/Brown Creeper, Red-crowned Parakeet, Kaka, New Zealand Pigeon, South Island Saddleback, Stewart Island Robin, New Zealand Fantails, Tomtits and Grey Warblers. That evening we were out looking for the Stewart Island Brown Kiwi, a subspecies of the Southern Brown Kiwi which is found on the mainland. We found four individuals including this year’s chick and a large adult female.
Our final day at Stewart Island was spent at sea for the final pelagic of the trip. We started with another look at yesterday’s Fiordland Crested Penguins. Birds seen by the end of the day: x5 Fiordland-crested Penguins, x8 Little Blue Penguins, x2 Southern Brown Skuas, x12 Southern Royal Albatross, 100+ White-capped Albatross, x10 Salvin’s Albatross, x1 Campbell Island Albatross, x10 Buller’s Albatross, x4 Northern Giant Petrels, x15 Cape Petrels, x6 White-Chinned Petrels, x30 Cooks Petrels, x10 Mottled Petrels, x1 White-headed Petrel, x20+ Common Diving Petrels, x1000+ Sooty Shearwaters, x1 Short-tailed Shearwater, x50 Fairy Prions, x2 White-faced Storm-Petrels, x1 Wilsons Storm-Petrel, and x200+ Foveaux Shags. Even though we missed a few possible species (Yellow-eyed Penguin, Grey-Backed Storm-Petrel and Broad-billed Prion) these numbers show that a Stewart Island pelagic is as good as anywhere on the planet.
From Stewart Island to Bluff and onwards to Invercargill in Southland, through Dunedin in Otago, we arrived at a site that historically has been a great place to see Yellow-eyed Penguins. Their Māori name is ‘hoiho’ which means noise shouter. These birds are a very important endemic species for a Wrybill tour and visiting birders. Unfortunately, they are on the road to extinction on the mainland. With only 150 pairs left, they struggle with introduced pests, lack of food because of overfishing by humans and, ironically, they fall prey to the increased numbers of New Zealand Sea Lion, the rarest species of Sea Lion.
This sealion is now making a comeback to the mainland. Yellow-eyed Penguin stronghold is now on the Auckland Islands in the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands. Our first to see them would have been on the Stewart Island pelagic, but that wasn’t to be, so this was our second chance, best chance, and final chance! We waited and waited. No luck. We headed to our motel that evening feeling pretty low.
At 6am the next morning I thought I’d try a beach that I hadn’t been to in over twenty years. At 6:40am two adult Yellow-eyeds appeared from the bush and headed into the sea and were gone as quickly as they’d appeared. We had seen the world’s rarest Penguin on the last throw of the dice!
To add spice to the day, we then headed inland to search for the world’s rarest wader. The Black Stilt (Māori name ‘kaki’) are endemic to New Zealand’s South Island with around 200 birds left in the wild. After a little searching we found an adult and a sub-adult feeding on a quiet lake. Later, another pair of a adults showed even better. We had done it! Finding two mega rare endemic birds within the space of a few hours. What a great way to finish the trip, which finished up with a total 157 species seen.
Late February I flew back home to Stewart Island. I had been on the go since late September (with a few days off here and there) and have decided to take a much-needed winter break from travelling and working overseas.
There is always work to do though! I completed two 21-day trip reports for Wrybill Birding Tours which are already up on their website. I still need to sort through a few images but have written this latest news for my website. I have purchased a new mirrorless camera and lens, Canon R5 Mark II and Canon 100-500 zoom lens to replace my deceased gear.
I have guided back on my ‘local patch’, Ulva Island, and have been leading kiwi spotting tours here at Stewart Island for a couple of nights a week. I never get tired of showing these amazing birds to visiting folks from around the world.
If you have got this far, I thank you. I am just off to walk the dog and play with my new camera!
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