Kaikora

The famous Kaikora Bay, with its

 deep waters close to shore.

Southern Royal Albatross

One of the great birds of the ocean.

Northern Royal Albatross

Northern Royal in flight.

A brilliant bird!

Salvin's Albatross

Black browed Albatross

White capped Albatross

Not sure about this ones ID! 
Black browed Albatross?

Wandering Albatross of the 'snowy' form.
Breeds further west & away from
 New Zealand waters.

Wandering Albatross of the gibsoni form

Note the vermiculations on the mantle.

A classic gibsoni form.

Northern Giant Petrel

Very variable plumage

Southern Giant Petrel - notice the
 colour of the bill tip.

Westland Petrel

Only discovered in 1945 breeding 
in the hills on south island.

Endemic to New Zealand.

Difficult to separate from White chinned Petrel 
in the field.

Cape Petrel & Westland Petrel.

Cape Petrel of the NZ subspecies.

Much darker on the mantle than the nominate 

The nominate antarctic form.

NZ form.

Grey faced Petrel

Today was all about the world famous pelagic just offshore. We had great conditions & in the short time available saw an impressive cast of seabirds at point blank range.

Small fishing boats like this one 

are a magnet for seabirds.

Gibson's Wandering Albatross with 
Northern Giant & Cape Petrels.

It is a scrum!

Best species were:

3 Southern Royal Albatross; 2 Northern Royal Albatross; 1 Snowy (Wandering) Albatross; 6 Gibson's (wandering) Albatross; 1 or 2 Black browed Albatross; 5 White capped Albatross; 15+ Salvin's Albatross; 1 Southern Giant Petrel; 45+ Northern Giant Petrel; 2 Grey faced Petrel; 4 White chinned Petrel; 30+ Westland Petrel; 2 Sooty Shearwater; 1 Short-tailed Shearwater & 80+ Hutton's Shearwater.

Me, Maggie, Donna, Diana & Marylin.
Just before our walk to Summer Bay.

Most of the world's population of
Hutton's Shearwaters are found here.

Looking inland from Summer Bay.

In the afternoon some of us walked the peninsula track into Summer Bay. It was big on scenery but short on birds but we all had a great time.

Enjoyed a lovely fish supper in the garden of our hotel to round off an excellent day.