K is for Kaikoura: seabird heaven

Out to sea from Kaikoura

The meds worked! I managed just fine for the few hours out to sea, the jet boat was fast and felt safe too, Tracy a fine skipper and bird guide. I did not need the binocs, even the birds on the wing were close enough to get a good sighting, like the Buller's Shearwater.

Much excitement for a new species on my world list, a Fairy Prion and for catching a glimpse of a Hutton's Shearwater, an endemic whose breeding is restricted to the mountains around Kaikoura, the Seaward's, and an increasingly endangered bird.

White-capped Mollymawk

S is for Salvin's: a mollymawk lifer

The great albatrosses tend to get all the attention, but I love the Lesser Albatrosses, called Mollymawks here in New Zealand. 

A lifer for me this morning was the Salvin's Mollymawk with the most beautiful grey head and neck and the most captivating eyes. What a bird!

N is for Nelly: the name for Giant Petrels in New Zealand.

Our pelagic trip with Albatross Encounters out of Kaikoura today was a birding fest, we had 19 species and these Northern Giant Petrels were numerous. They were quick to follow the boat and also quick to get onto the chum cage. They postured, tails fanned and held at 90 degrees, wings spread wide open, trying to make themselves look bigger and more aggressive. 

These birds are fierce!

A is for Albatross: an aggressor called Gibson's Wandering

Kaikoura calls itself the albatross capital of New Zealand with up to 10 species that have been seen from the pelagic trips. The advantage is that the deep Kaikoura Canyon where cold and warm currents meet and cause an upwelling of nutrient rich water, is only 15 minutes out to sea from Southbay. The food abundance creates a thriving seabird environment.

The first albatrosses of the morning were the Wandering Albatrosses, the Gibson's - Diomedea exults gibsoni - they were the aggressors at the chum fighting off the Northern Giant Petrels. A lifer and what a sighting.

A is for Albatross: a Royal beauty

"Wisdom begins with putting the right name on a thing" 

(Old Chinese Proverb)

This beauty has an appropriate name, a Southern Royal Albatross.

A pristine, elegant albatross, the pure white of the neck and head a stand out feature as is the fine black line along its large and hooked beak.

We were out to sea this morning, south of Kaikoura here on the South Island, New Zealand and the Royal stayed out of the feeding frenzy and maintained a 'royal' demeanour.