Red Rocks Reserve

Wellington is situated at the southern point of the north island.  It is here you can access all types of trails around the city.  One of the most remote and beautiful trails is found at Red Rocks Reserve.  The hike is about a half day. It's rather easy except for when you hit sand and then you slow down.  Heidi showed me how to get to this place early on in my treks.  I packed my backpack full of goodies and plenty of water.  And had a beautiful 5 hour hike along the ocean.  It was my last chance for mollymawks/albatross and perhaps penguins. 

                                                                      New Zealand Pipit

My first lifer came in the form of the New Zealand Pipit.  Pipits can be easy or they can be difficult.  Here, all along the rocky and wet coastal trail, I found many of the birds merely inches away from me. They perched on wet rocks and foraged among the seaweed that had amassed on shore from the tide.  

Anything you find here cannot be taken with you.  It must be left on the reserve as it is a protected marine area. This is the Blackfoot Paua.  And from what I understand, it's delicious to eat.  I just enjoyed the radiant colors of the shell! Pics were taken and this specimen was left where I found it. 

Cormorants and shags were everywhere.  Pied Cormorants were common. But I also found a healthy variety of cormorant species during my hike.  I haven't written about the Great Cormorant.  It is also found here in New Zealand.  But they look different from our Great Cormorants of the Atlantic.  They are huge and there was a crest. So why isn't it called the Great Shag? 👦On second thought, Great Cormorant is a better name:)

                                                                            Pied Cormorant

More pipits showed up to keep me distracted.  I kept looking out to the ocean where a major bulk of New Zealand birds exist, including MANY species of albatross. We had tried so hard to charter a pelagic but everything was booked.  The best place to see ocean birds from land is Red Rocks.  Why?  Well, there's like an ocean bird highway between the north and south islands. If you are intense, carry a scope with you because there is a lot of boat traffic between the two islands and the birds follow the large and small sea vessels!  I could see a lot of bird movement way out from the shore using my binos.  At times, I was frustrated because I know I missed a few lifers.  

Even along the shore, you may spy large ocean birds flying by you because they do nest all along these remote areas.  I wouldn't say it's completely remote as there are walkers and several annoying jeeps rented by tourists on this quite scary, for vehicles, trail.  In fact, there is one spot that looked not passable at all for a jeep.  We're coming up on that photo soon.  It was warm in the sun and chilly in the shadows of the hills during the walk.  My eyes kept scanning the horizon for anything that moved. 

In the pic above, we see the snow capped mountains of the south island.  I didn't want to go home.  I wanted to stay and keep exploring this beautiful country.  I opened my backpack and pulled out some water and just stared out across the landscape.  As much as I love having a steady job; I wish this was my steady job.  Give me a bird guide and I'll study and memorize it all.  Put me in the place where birds are found and I will ID away!

                                                                       Variable Oystercatcher

I looked one last time at a Variable Oystercatcher foraging along the shore.  I love oystercatchers.  They are such odd looking birds.  But then something in the distance caught my attention with its angular glide!!!!!  An albatross!  Finally!

                                                        Black-browed Albatross

The large bird flew above my head.  It was most likely a Black-browed Albatross but just to be sure for the critics, I snapped a shot of the underwing to be 100 percent correct.  Those underwing field marks are super important.  Otherwise, you just have an albatross and can't count a new species on that world life list!  Not on my watch!  I observed this bird hunt over the waters and on several occasions dive and get its prey.  From the midpoint of my walk, I saw more and more of them hunting and gliding.  They remind me of a large stiff kite in the wind.  Absolutely stunning birds! Mission accomplished! Or was it? I wanted to see that Fur Seal colony.  I put my cantina in my backpack and continued the hike. 

And there were more pipits:) In a previous post, I mentioned there were several groups of birds that can be tricky to ID. Albatross is one of them.  There are something like 11 species around the waters.  I have to do more study on them the next time I go.  The second is Pacific black duck.  Most are hybrids around the Wellington area.  Mallards are everywhere on this planet and hybridize with many similar ducks. Then there's oystercatchers(in a post a while back).  And then there are shags and cormorants. 

                                                            Little Black Cormorant

I finally got my eyes on a nice looking Little Black Cormorant. For the most part, it looks like our cormorants back home.  But I kept getting it confused with a juvenile Little Pied Cormorant!  Take a look at this juvenile Little Pied below. It's all black!!!!

                                                                       Little Pied Cormorant-juvenile

I am grateful to the Kiwi birders on iNat for helping me with the ID's. And also to Michael Szabo, one of the leading bird authorities on New Zealand birds. If you notice the bill color and somewhat flat head with white around the shorter bill, you've got yourself a juvenile Little Pied Cormorant. When you're along the coast, these black birds from a distance can be difficult to ID unless they are close. Also the eyes are quite different. The Little Black Cormorant has alien looking eyes:)

I eventually reached the point Heidi had warned me about.  Just past this rocky citadel, a large Fur Seal colony hung out. A hiker was returning from his walk and warned me that a seal was hiding in the bushes. This is also the point where most jeeps, etc should turn around because certain parts of the road become impassable. Some crazy Australians had no fear.  There is much to learn about the cultures around this part of the world. Every time I ran into one of these Aussies, I could tell they had a wild and crazy energy.  Kiwis are not as vocal or loud:) Many Kiwis have told me that when they need off the island, they love to head to Australia because there is energy and life there. :)  I look forward to visiting the area and seeing what it's like for myself. 

There is barely enough room to fit a jeep with these rocky outcrops. There's no way to see from the other side on this tire blowing path. And yet a few ventured past this point of no return. For a hiker, it is nothing, but passing this point by vehicle was not my worry.  Where was that Fur Seal?

                                                                           New Zealand Fur Seal

As I went past the rock marker into the colony, I saw them all. And there my new friend was right by the walkway.  S/he huffed at me as a warning to not get too close.  So I moved back and bumped into another one IN THE BUSHES!  Thankfully, the seal was fast asleep. 

There were so many fascinating things to see.  And I wanted to keep going but I had to be back for a family get together at a delicious Indian restaurant.  

Along the way, seals rested on rocks, grass and in bushes. 

I even caught one heading out to sea.  It looked painful hopping on all those sharp rocks!

On my way back, I watched one of the ferries from the 2 main companies connect the south island to the north island.  And there were many ocean birds darting all around the waters which included Fluttering Shearwaters, Fairy Prions and Cape Petrels.  Those were the only ones I could ID from the distance.  The rest were all blurs due to heat shimmer over the water OR distance. 

One lovely bird that hunts along the coast is the Australasian Gannet. During our tea and crumpets time, we watched this bird dive bomb the waters for food. 

                                                                   Australasian Gannet

And while that was happening, there was some commotion going on as well from the hills.  A New Zealand Falcon took out a bird and flew up to the hills along the shore for its own lunch. 

 A person can spend months on what seems like an eternity planning for a trip.  Then it all happens in a blink of an eye.  We ate our carrot cake. I sipped my coffee and Heidi drank her tea.  It was a bittersweet moment.  I didn't want to go home. 

                                              New Zealand Carrot Cake-carrots are huge there

I want to buy a home in Wellington and live on the ocean....but not too close. The weather, the people, the birds, and the experiences have me wanting more.  On my final day, I took time to smell the magnolias and did one last walk around Wellington. We'll take a look at all of this in my last post for New Zealand birding. Until next time....