Birds of Christchurch and Canterbury

Eleven Canterbury OSNZers spent the past weekend in the Akaroa area of
Banks Peninsula.

On the Saturday the plan was to head out for a pelagic at 10am, however a
dying southerly still had a bit too much sting in it to allow us to go
where we wanted – out past the heads. Instead we popped into Smith Street
on the walk back from the wharf to the bach where we were staying. Some of
the residents of Smith Street feed sugar-water and are visited by good
numbers of Tui (well good numbers for Canterbury). Up near the top of the
street Tui are found and one very keen and knowledgeable householder
notices us and comes out to greet us. She has been keeping records of the
band combinations of released birds, though most of the birds we see are
unbanded and have been raised in the area. Through her we visit a
neighbour’s deck on the other side of the road, and another very interested
householder, who seems to spend a lot of time photographing the birds on a
nearby feeder. We estimate there were about 10 Tui in the small area around
upper Smith Street.

After lunch we head over the hill to Hinewai, down the narrow road to the
bottom end of the reserve. Here close to the end of the Valley Track there
used to be a sugarwater feeder associated with the Tui re-introductions
(which took place at the reserve), but this seems to have been removed.
Tomtit and Brown Creeper are seen, but no Tui. Then taking the track down
to the beach of Otanerito Bay four Tui are found in a small grove of walnut
and gum trees. A giant petrel is sheltering in the bay, but there is little
else of note.

We set out on our pelagic on a calm Sunday morning at 8.30. Unfortunately a
NW wind soon gets up as we head out past Spotted Shag roost and nesting
spots on high cliffs into the open sea, but maybe only 1 nm past the heads.
Southern Royal Albatrosses soon start to drift by and Sooty Shearwaters
flick past, and I get a short look at a fairly distant Pterodroma petrel
(maybe Cook’s, definitely not Mottled). As time goes on good numbers of
White-capped Mollymawks and Bullers Mollymawks check us out, and all of
this without the aid of chumming. Heading back into the harbour and after
checking out the spectacular rock formations of Scenery Nook a small raft,
then a feeding flock of Sooty Shearwaters are found, the latter on a shoal
of what were probably mullet being coralled and attacked from beneath by a
pod of about 10 Hector’s Dolphins. Return to Akaroa was a little before
midday.
Species totals for the pelagic: Southern Royal Albatross ~20, Gibson’s
Wandering Albatross 1, White-Capped Albatross 30-40, Buller’s Albatross ~6,
Northern Giant Petrel 3, Buller’s Shearwater 1, Sooty Shearwater ~150-200,
Hutton’s/Fluttering Shearwater ~20-30 (all the ones I saw well were
Hutton’s), Cape Petrel ~10-20, Pterodroma sp 1, Little Penguin 3-4, Pied
Shag common in inner harbour, Spotted Shag very common, Little Shag 2-3,
Arctic Skua 3, Black-backed Gull several, Red-billed Gull several,
White-fronted Tern ~200, Black-fronted Tern 1.
Our tour was with Tony Muir of Coast up Close (www.coastupclose.co.nz), who
specialises in small group tours and charters. The albatrosses and other
pelagic species can be seen surprisingly close to land near the heads of
Akaroa Harbour, and views of Hector’s Dolphin and the white-flippered form
of Little Penguin are commonplace.