Saturday 29 October 2016

Turangi Area


A pair of New Zealand Scaup.


Quite a long drive this morning from Whitianga to Turangi. our first stop was a small wetland by the roadside which produced amazing views of New Zealand Scaup.

Pureora Forest Park: a large tract of indigenous forest
 amid farmland.

Guardian of the forest.

We stopped at a couple of places in the Pureora Forest Park, amid towering indigenous trees. We did a couple of short walks & it was great to be in the dark, wet lichen covered forest.

New Zealand Kaka
Yellow crowned Parakeet


New Zealand Pigeon
One of the best pigeons around.
Long - tailed Cuckoo


North Island Robin
New Zealand Fantail
Whitehead

Best birds were: New Zealand Pigeon; New Zealand Kaka; Yellow-crowned Parakeet; Long-tailed Cuckoo; Grey Warbler; New Zealand Bellbird; Tui; Whitehead; New Zealand Fantail; New Zealand Tomtit & Silvereye.

The river at Turangi.
The fantastic Blue Duck




We then carried on to Turangi & birded the beautiful river there, right in the town. Almost immediately we found a pair of Blue Duck feeding in the fast flowing river. We all enjoyed prolonged & reasonable close views of this enigmatic species. 

Dusk looking over the lake.
Plenty of thermal activity is in this area.
The habitat for the Bittern: three were booming!

We then visited a wetland area looking for Australasian Bittern. Heard at least three birds booming but no sightings. Had a great Chinese meal in a local restaurant.

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