In Pursuit of Prions (Part 7) Napier to Bay of Islands

This cruise was a great way to see the natural world of New Zealand but if you are really into the wildlife side of things you are best organising your own shore excursions.

As we sailed out past Northland we soon picked up a good variety of seabirds including Little Shearwater. Two days on the Tasman Sea lay ahead and a chance to catch up with some more petrels and shearwaters. I was not to be disappointed!

In Pursuit of Prions (Part 6) - Akaroa

In Pursuit of Prions (Part 5) - Otago

We moved around the headland to view the Northern Royal Albatrosses which nest on this headland. Several birds were sitting and a few could be seen displaying, though the views were somewhat distant. The Royal Spoonbill colony was a little easier to observe; the birds crowned with an elegant head-dress and rather startling yellow 'eyebrows'.

Out off the headland masses of Spotted Shags were fishing communally and there small nesting groups also dotted the headland ledges.

Later in the day we joined an excursion to see Yellow-eyed Penguins at a private farm 'Nature's Wonders'. Whilst awaiting our trip in the cross-country Argo vehicles we enjoyed a first class view of a Swamp Harrier and a pod of Dusky Dolphins down in the bay. Rather disappointingly almost every bird I could hear or see was an introduced European species, including Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Skylark.The Acclimatisation Societies of the 19th and 20th Centuries have a lot to answer for.

The access to the penguins is carefully controlled to minimise the disturbance of this threatened endemic species. We had an beak-to-nose view of a nesting Yellow-eyed Penguin through a tiny slot in the hide but we also had splendid views of a couple of adults on the sandy dune slope commuting to and from the sea with their bandit mask of yellow making them distinctive from any other penguin species. Just before our return we were also given access to view a nesting Little Blue Penguin. It was all too brief but very enjoyable.

In Pursuit of Prions (part4) 2 days on the Tasman Sea

A succession of Gibson's Wandering Albatrosses weaved across the ship's foamy footprint, occasionally making a closer approach and enabling me to take a few images.

Periodically other seabirds would whip by and some like the Cookilaria petrels would remain unidentified to species. Thankfully most would be visible for long enough to put a name to them, in particular the Mottled Petrels, with their contrasting ash grey bellies, that would arc high above the waves in a characteristic fashion, whilst the occasional Black-bellied Storm Petrel would flutter-walk among the waves.

Cetaceans were largely noticeable by their absence until the arching body and dorsal fin of a small whale close to the starboard side set the pulse racing. It resurfaced. A prominent white beak breaking the surface long before the rest of the whale emerged. Its body was marked by tooth rakes and Cookie-cutter Shark bites. It surfaced with a slow roll several times before being lost to view. My camera shutter whirred away and I was later able to confirm the whales identity as Gray's Beaked Whale. Though not rare this is anything but a commonly seen marine mammal so I feel privileged to have been lucky enough to see it and more so to capture it on camera. Later that day I had a pod of 20 plus Pilot Whales but as both Short-finned and Long-finned occur in the region they remained unidentified to species.

Suddenly a small pale petrel-like bird was intermittently fluttering and gliding through the waves. Could it be? At last, a Prion! It had a beak that reminded me of a Shoebill Stork in miniature and a close scrutiny of my 'record' shots confirmed it as my first ever Broad billed Prion. Over the next hour I saw several more.

The Albatrosses had kept company with us all day and now they had been joined by a Northern Giant Petrel, fresh from winning the regional 'something only a mother could love' competition. It's malevolent appearance contrasted with the elegant albatrosses but even these were put in the shade when they were joined by the ultimate albatross. A dream bird, something you read about and yearn to see. Now it was a reality as the majestic Snowy Wandering Albatross skimmed across the ship's wake before making a making a magical eye-ball to eye-ball approach on the ship. It made repeated passes and my camera shutter was a blur of ecstasy. This was the reason for travelling half way around the globe. A lifelong ambition finally realised and a grin like a Cheshire Cat!

We continued streaming SE overnight and by dawn on the 25th the we were approaching the southern tip of South Island. There were some subtle changes in the cast of seabirds. There were still Snowy Wandering Albatross trailing the ship and once in a while a White capped Albatross would pass by. Sooty Shearwaters became more frequent and as we approached the Foveaux strait there were birds everywhere, White-faced and Black-bellied Petrels and the first Cape Petrels of the tour. However the dominant species were Prions. to be precise three different species. A few more broad billed were overshadowed by masses of Fairy Prions and careful searching asmongst the fairy prions also revealed the subtly different Fulmar Prion. Several thousand prions later, as dusk approached, we made our first sighting of New Zealand, or at least some of the islands off Stewart Island. tomorrow we would be in Otago in pursuit of Penguins.