Aotearoa, 2024--25

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Birds

1. Juvenile puteketeke (grebe) and black swan. 2. Black swan. 3. Little shag (Kawau Paka). 4. Proud parent (puteketeke) with three juveniles. 5. Spur-winged plover. 6. Puteketeke

Falcons (Karearea).

1. Shelduck. 2. Puteketeke 3. Black-backed gull. 4. Shag and grey duck.


Heron/Matuku Moana

1. Sparrow in a beech tree. 2. Tomtit/Miromiro
See also West Coast and Rakiura.

West Coast

Kahikatea Swamp Forest

Okarito Pack track/Coastal walk.

Okarito Lagoon (Okarito Delta) 1. Early morning start. 2. Okarito delta. 3. Okarito river. 4. Okarito lagoon and alps. 5. Tasman and Cook.

1,2 Godwit. 3. Pied oystercatcher. 4. Young black-billed gull. 5. Spoonbill (rare). 6. Black swan.

White heron/Kotuku

Okarito(local)1. Sunset over a tidal pool. 2,3,4 Final sunset (Elie de Beaumont, Minarets, viewed from Okarito) 5. Habour entrance, in good conditions.

Pakihi walk. 1. Pakihi swamp. 2. Track. 3. View

Okarito Lagoon (Okarito Delta). 1. Black shag. 2. Okarito delta and trail marker. 3. Okarito river and alps. 4. Kotuku and Aoraki

Trig (evening) 1. Elie de Beaumont, 2,3. Three-mile lagoon. Kiwis were heard but not seen.

Okarito Lagoon (Tidal Creek)

Marlborough Sounds

Mt Stokes 1. Waiting for the fog to clear. 2,3 Views from the top. 4. Forest on the track.

Miscellaneous 1. Sunset at Punga Cove. 2,3. The Sounds.

Waikawa Bay 1,2 From kayak (early morning). 3,4 From Snout track (4. shows Mt Stokes on a clear day).

Kaikoura Evening walk.

Kayaking

Whakatipu. 1. Note heron at upper left. 2. Picnic point (rata). 3. Point. 4. Bobs Cove

From Pigeon Island

Pigeon Island (again). 1,3 Native bush and Pig Island; 2. Earnslaw and the head of the lake. 4. P372 and the Richardson Mountains.

Rata. 1. E of Wilson Bay. 2. Bottom of Five Mile Creek. 3,4. Bobs Cove. (See also Rakiura.)

Crichton Loop Track

Local

1,2. Tulips. 3,4,5. Mistletoe in the beech forest.

Sunrise: 04.12.24, 11.01.25, 23.01.25, 23.01.25 (it rained).

1. House. 2. Earnslaw steamer. 3.Ben Nevis.

Rakiura (no stoats)

Ryans Creek Track

Ulva Island (no stoats, possums, rats, cats)

1. Bellbird/Korimako. 2. Variable Oystercatcher/Toreo Pango. 3. Kiwi feeding (at 11am; midnight snack?) in deep shade about 15m from track. 4. Bush. 5. From Boulder beach.
See below for rata on Ulva Island.

Ackers Point; Fern Gully

1. Titi/Muttonbird Islands. 2. Ackers Point. 3. Fern Gully. 4. Fern Gully. 5. Ferns

Horseshoe Point, Garden Mound Loop

1. Horseshoe Point track. 2. Horseshoe Point track. 3. Lee Bay. 4. Garden Mound track (rimu, rimu, kamahi).

Ringaringa beach

Ringaringa Beach, Moses Nugget, and Native Island (5:12am; 5:59am; 6:01am; 6:06am; 6:23pm)

Wohlers monument track

Traills Bay in gale (Ulva Island visible).

Rata

1. On the Golden Bay track. 2. On Ulva. 3. On Ulva.

Deep Bay

1. Bay. 2. Bay. 3. Pigeon/Kereru near Deep Bay (sleeping, I think). 4. Kaka. 5. Friendly neighbour.

Observation Rock

Iona Island, Ulva Island, and the south side of Paterson Inlet.

Lake Rere Loop Track

1. Greenstone river. 2. Mt Earnslaw. 3. ???. 4. Farmland. 5. Elfin Bay.

1. From the bush, Lake Rere looks green. 2. Lake Rere. 3. Greenstone track. 4. Green pools in the Greenstone river.

Copyright © 2024, J.S. Milne. Email: nz@jmilne.org