Meeting new birds

Part of the justification for the #birdventurenz was to photograph species of birds that I didn’t have any images of. While The Brilliance of Birds doesn’t feature all of the species of bird found in Aotearoa New Zealand, it has a pretty good coverage! Some of these birds I hadn’t yet seen in the wild, or seen at all.

I love birds. But I’ve never really considered myself a ‘birder’. I don’t go out of my way chasing new species to add to my list (a notable exception here….), I’m more of a birdwatcher. I’ll happily stare at anything with feathers and consider it a day well spent – from sparrows to spoonbills to shearwaters.

But something about tracking down particular species to photograph for the book changed that a little. I do get a thrill out of seeing a new species for the first time. Even more rewarding is then spending time with them, learning their movement patterns, their behaviours, their little quirks. Discovering what habitats they like to frequent, figuring out the best way to capture their character in an image. It’s a kind of dance between photographer and subject, and every little thing you learn about a bird’s behaviour helps you make better images.

After spending a day hanging out around Arthur’s Pass with Mike Ashbee (who has just had a brilliant book released about dragonflies and damselflies – check it out!), chatting about all things bird-related while chasing photographs of said birds, I even went so far as to tally up the number of species I’ve seen in New Zealand (204 species, out of a contested total of about 365, depending on what you think a ‘species’ is). Which means that I probably have to admit to being a bit of a birder now.

So which species did I meet for the first time on my #birdventurenz? I’m leaving out all the Kermadec species (you can see them here!), and focusing on my trip southbound onwards. Some I managed to photograph, others I didn’t quite manage to (Great spotted kiwi (roa), marsh crake, Rakiura tokoeka) Here’s a photographic list of those I did get a lens on!

pīpipi – Brown creeper. I absolutely fell in love with these beautiful little birds last year. They’re so overlooked compared to their other cousins in the Mohoua genus
Foveaux shagthe shags in Otago and around Foveaux Strait have been split into two species, and while I’d seen them from a distance on my subantarctic trips, this was my first time getting up close to these ones!
taiko – Westland petrel
tītī – Hutton’s shearwater. Many seabirds in Aotearoa New Zealand share the name tītī!
Hoary-headed grebe
A tip from Mike and a well-timed drive between Kaikōura and Picton saw us catch these cute birds in the last light of day – perfect!
Cirl bunting
Mike and I went looking for Cirl buntings and Little owls after I got back from the Chathams and spent a few days waiting in Christchurch for Dad to join me on the last leg of the #birdventurenz
Little owl
pīwauwau – Rock wren
I spent a lot of time looking for (and not seeing) Rock wren. When we finally homed in on a few territories and spent time waiting for the birds to do their thing, watching them forage among the boulder-fields around Homer Tunnel was one of my favourite experiences all year!
Chukor
We definitely went out of our way to see Chukor. We were in Tekapō to photograph kakī and banded dotterels, and ducked up to the Mt Bruce Observatory to look for these beautifully patterned game birds

Edin

Seabird scientist and conservation photographer working in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Leave a Reply

Close Menu