We headed south from Paihia on the 19th of October, traveling down Hwy 1. We stopped at Waipu Cove again looking for Fairy Terns but didn’t have any luck. We did see an albino Varied Oystercatcher, that was pretty cool. Just north of Orewa we passed Wenderholm, which was on my list of birding spots but we hadn’t gone because we couldn’t find it on the map. As we had plenty of extra time we decided to stop. When we drove into the parking lot about 4 or 5 Mallard ducklings ran under our car. I was laughing really hard when I got out to shoo them away.

There were birds called tuis absolutely everywhere - they have really cool songs! There are also little birds called fantails that come out and dance and display all around you, they’re really cute. We went on a hike up a nearby hill through native forest that took about an hour and a half. The walk was very uphill but there were wooden stairs for a lot of it. I finally got nice looks at NZ Pigeons too, they’re so much prettier than our stupid Rock Pigeons.

We checked in at Pillows Lodge in Orewa. Even though I’d booked a double they gave us the dorm loft at a cheaper price, and we had it to ourselves. Unfortunately the walls were like paper and there were bedbugs that chewed on my feet all night, so it didn’t turn out to be the greatest hostel. We went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner, it was pretty good.

On the 20th we followed directions to Gulf Harbour, which was about 20 minutes away. Our ferry ticket was waiting for us and we were early. While we were waiting we met a nice couple from England who were also in the country for birding. Did you know that birders in European countries are known as “twitchers”? Well, not birders who sit at their windows and watch bird feeders, but ones who drive across country to see rare birds and such. Like me. Twitcher.

We took the Kawau Kat ferry over to Tiritiri Matangi island at 9:50am. On the way over we saw Fluttering Shearwater (shearwaters are really hard to ID, be proud). We dropped our stuff off at the bunkhouse and went hiking on the island. The track we picked didn’t have any other people on it because it was the longest one, which was awesome. We saw lots and lots of pretty birdies, mostly forest ones.

That night we went out on the island with the English couple to look for kiwis. We saw Blue Penguins coming in for the night to their little burrows along the shorelines (they make loud funny moaning noises), a Tuatara (a reptile that looks like a lizard but isn’t, it’s in its own Order and can only be found in NZ), bioluminescent algae in the waves, and 4 Little Spotted Kiwi!!! We also heard an owl and Grey-faced Petrels.

The bunkhouse on the island was pretty nice, it had a great kitchen and though the bunks and toilet were a bit primitive they sufficed. We got in late after Kiwi-seeking but I got up early anyway and went to watch birds in the yard. Later Vanessa and I walked around and looked for more birds, we did pretty well. I spent a bunch of money in the gift shop of course =)

The ferry came for us at about 3:30pm, and once we were back on the mainland we drove down to Miranda (about 2 hours). For dinner we had a very greasy but yummy Fish and Chips at a local shop. The room at the Shorebird Centre was nice, it was ensuite with its own bathroom and kitchen.

Stuff about birds some people may want to skip:
NZ Robins are fairly uncommon, but we saw some on Tiritiri. All of the ones on the island are banded. If you shuffle the leaf litter at your feet the robins will come right up to you and feed at your toes. There are also Saddlebacks which are extremely cranky and sensitive, they yell at everything that comes near them and they sound like they’re laughing at you. Stitchbirds are gorgeous - the picture in the book doesn’t do them justice. They make a high-pitched shrill call. The Tuis are crazy, they fly into bushes at full speed and collide with the branches. They also have a nose-dive display where they fly straight up into the air and then nose-dive into the bush (crash!). They also have an awesome song that’s loud and liquid-sounding. Kokako are rare and hard to find. We saw several pairs on Tiritiri feeding on berries and leaves. They have really long legs and their song is almost whale-like. Fantails are probably my favorite, because they come right up to you and display right next to you with their little tails all fanned out. They’re pretty spastic and have a display that’s like a leaf falling in the wind. There are also parakeets that are pretty shy, they like to feed on large flowering plants. The Takahe are large flightless birds that are highly endangered, they have bills the size of Puffins’. They seem shy as well but there are signs all over the island that say “Beware, Takahe will steal your food”.

The next morning in Miranda there were House Sparrows scratching at the ceiling when we woke up - they have fledglings over the bathroom. High tide was at 8am and that’s when the Wrybills were supposed to be out, so we went out on the trail to look for them. Right by the Centre we caught a brief look at a Banded Rail, which we hadn’t seen before.

We walked all the way out on the trail and ran into a group of birders who’d driven there with spotting scopes. We saw quite a few species of shorebirds. The Wrybills are tiny shorebirds with bills that curve slightly to the right - this is unique to their species.

As we walked to the road my violent sneezing (bad allergies at Miranda) managed not to scare off a second Banded Rail (yay!). The little bird caught a worm in the mud and we watched it take it back into the mangroves where it probably had a nest. Also, on the way back to the Centre an Australasian Bittern flew right overhead. This was amazing, I haven’t even been able to see an American Bittern because the bloody things are impossible to find. Yay!

Since we had our own fridge (Wow!) I hard-boiled some eggs for lunch. We made some logistical decisions about the next couple of days and then headed out to look at birds again. The tide was really low and we couldn’t see much though, and it was really windy. In the evening we went back to the Fish and Chips place because it was insanely cheap. When we got back we were introduced to two real NZ twitchers- they run a birding tour company. We then went back to the sandspit but it got dark quickly so we didn’t see much.

On the 23rd it rained. A LOT. We left Miranda late after sleeping in and headed toward the Coromandel Peninsula. There were tons of Spotted Shags (a shag in NZ is a cormorant, and Spotted ones are really pretty - a grey color with blueish backs and a racing stripe down the side) along the coast. The road sucked, it was realy narrow with lots of one-lane bridges and one area where there was only room for one line of cars and of course I didn’t have the right of way. The peninsula was pretty though… very green.

We stayed at the Lion’s Den in Coromandel. This hostel was awesome! It was really cute with an African theme and a pretty garden. There was lots of space on the deck to relax and hide from the rain. The town itself was ok, there were some nice art stores and places to eat.

I haven’t journaled for today so that’s it for now! We’re staying at Loft 109 in Tauranga and tomorrow we’re going to Rotorua.