The Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand & Australia

November/December 2005

Mark Van Beirs

This cruise, which visits the Snares, the Aucklands, Macquarie, Campbell, the Antipodes, the Bounties and the Chathams, and which thoroughly explores the rich seas surrounding these tiny specks of land on the other side of mother earth, must surely be the best seabird experience possible anywhere on the whole planet. We were extremely lucky with the weather, never saw waves higher than two meters and enjoyed the gracious hospitality of a splendidly run little ship. The Royal and King Penguin experience at Sandy Bay on Macquarie must be one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on earth. The amazing feeling of wilderness, the total lack of people and ships, and the delight of being surrounded by albatrosses, mollymawks, petrels and storm petrels all the time was absolutely wonderful. Highlights included 14 forms of albatrosses, four species of prion, Mottled, Grey-faced and White-headed Petrels, King, Yellow-eyed, Royal, Snares Crested and Erect-crested Penguins, 12 species of cormorants, Auckland Island Teal, Shore Plover, New Zealand Snipe, Antipodes Parakeet, New Zealand Sea-Lion, Leopard Seal and Killer Whales.

The tour started in earnest with our afternoon walk on the outskirts of Invercargill, in the extreme south of New Zealand's South Island, where we explored a scenic estuary holding Little Pied and Little Black Cormorants, Royal Spoonbill, Black Swans with cygnets, Australian Shoveler, a large party of Grey Teal, Swamp Harrier, South Island Pied Oystercatcher, Pied Stilt, Bar-tailed Godwit, Red-billed and Black-billed Gulls, Fantail, Silvereye and good numbers of introduced species like Skylark, Redpoll, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Song Thrush. Later a boardwalk through a scrubby bog yielded a lovely Fernbird, several Bellbirds and a few Tui adorned with bizarre white appendages on their throats. At dinner we met up with the 40 other members of our Subantarctic cruise.

Next morning, a short visit to nearby Queen's Park added several showy New Zealand Pigeons to the tally and the interesting exhibitions at the museum gave us a first feeling for what was to come, but the amazing, prehistoric Tuataras really stole the show here.

We then drove to Bluff Harbour and boarded our Russian Oceanographic vessel, the “Professor Khromov”, which has been renamed “Spirit of Enderby” by our New Zealand tour operator. Whilst waiting for the right tide to sail, we sorted out our cabins, got introduced to the New Zealand and Australian staff, joined several lectures on security and life on board and observed Stewart Island and Spotted Shags and Variable Oystercatchers in the harbour. In mid afternoon our small ship finally left the mainland of New Zealand and set sail south to seabird-rich destinations. Our first prizes from the, soon familiar top deck included Southern Royal Albatross, White-capped Mollymawk, Sooty Shearwater, Common Diving Petrel, White-chinned Petrel, Cape Petrel, Fairy Prion, Cook's Petrel and good numbers of the decidedly lovely Mottled Petrel. We skirted the eastern shores of Stewart Island during the night and dawn found us approaching the main island of the Snares Islands. Thousands upon thousands of Sooty Shearwaters were leaving this low and well-forested speck of land. Birds were everywhere in truly amazing numbers and from our favourite top deck we watched Southern Royal Albatross, Salvin's and White-capped Mollymawks, a single Buller's Mollymawk (the only one of the tour!), lots of Common Diving Petrels, Cape Petrel (of the distinctive New Zealand race), Northern Giant Petrel, Subantarctic Skua and Antarctic Tern. As landing is not permitted in the Snares we boarded the zodiac-like naiads and explored the kelp-covered sheltered bays and coves of this remarkable place. We found several concentrations of the endemic and much-wanted Snares Island Penguin which we studied with great care, and encountered a Fernbird and several cute Tomtits in the gnarled trees. Good numbers of New Zealand Fur Seals and impressive-looking New Zealand or Hooker's Sea-Lions were snoozing on the beds of the huge, rubbery, yellow kelp, but the greatest surprise was the magnificent reptilian-looking Leopard Seal that first showed off in the water and then hauled itself out on the slippery rocks for in depth observation.

Around midday we left the Snares and continued sailing south. Viewing conditions were ideal with fairly calm seas, a bit of a breeze and sunny weather. The honey-coloured eye of Campbell Mollymawk was discerned, and White-chinned Petrel, Southern Fulmar, Mottled and Soft-plumaged Petrels together with White-faced and many Black-bellied Storm Petrels were noted. We worked hard to try to sort out the many prions and identified Fairy, Broad-billed and Fulmar Prions, but had to leave many unidentified. The last bird of the day, within sight of the Auckland Islands, was a Gibson's Albatross, one of those distinctive forms of Wandering Albatross.

Our full day on lovely Enderby, the northernmost island of the Auckland group was really delightful. After landing on the slippery rocky shore, we first crossed some dense tussock grass, then made our way through the fabled Rata Forest with its centuries old moss-covered gnarled trees and wandered across meadows with lots of flowering giant herbs, of which the yellow-flowering Bulbinella really caught our eyes. A loose colony of huge Southern Royal Albatrosses held several displaying birds and a couple of adorable Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses were found nesting on a sea cliff ledge. Several fluffy young Northern Giant Petrels were hiding under dense bushes, rather shy Yellow-eyed Penguins, including a leucistic individual, shuffled about, and at a colony of Auckland Island Shags many birds were collecting nesting material. Pretty and flightless Auckland Island Teal played hide and seek in the tussock grass and a New Zealand Falcon showed briefly. Very tame Double-banded Plovers performed some amazing distraction display to keep us away from their downy youngsters and dainty Red-crowned Parakeets walked about on the grassy pastures, where abundant New Zealand Pipits performed their display flights. But best of all were the almost rodent-like New Zealand Snipe, which gave such terrific views as they crept amongst the megaherbs. Really splendid stuff. On the beach several big New Zealand Sea-Lion bulls were defending their territorial rights by a bit of fierce sparring.

We then left this amazing island and sailed a short distance to sheltered Carnley Harbour, in the south of the Auckland group. Here, some of us hiked up into the hills to a colony of White-capped Mollymawks. It proved to be quite a scramble through thick Hebe and tussock grass to get up there, but it was well worth it. We spent several hours just sitting, observing and photographing these attractive creatures as they posed on their raised nests on the steep slopes. Most nests held an egg and we also found several breeding Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses. Whilst we were having a great time up there the less fit party did a naiad cruise along the shoreline of Carnley Harbour, where they saw New Zealand Falcon, Auckland Islands Shag and Auckland Island Teal. We then waved goodbye to the splendours of the Aucklands and started sailing southwest towards distant Macquarie Island. Upon leaving it proved to be very birdy and we had regular sightings of Gibson's and Southern Royal Albatrosses, Antarctic Prions, cracking White-headed Petrels, and quite a few Grey-backed Storm Petrels, of which we once had six together at a floating pile of kelp. Next morning we had reached Australian waters and the Australian birders on board became very attentive, eager to add a number of species to their Australian list. Whilst cruising at seven knots towards the southwest, in sunny and breezy weather, we were accompanied throughout the day by an excellent selection of Albatrosses and Mollymawks, including Southern Royal, Gibson's, Wandering, Grey-headed, Campbell, White-capped and Light-mantled Sooty. We also noted many Antarctic Prions, Mottled, White-headed and Soft-plumaged Petrels and a small party of Hourglass Dolphins. Next morning we arrived at the ANARE base at Buckles Bay, where the local rangers came aboard and were we said goodbye to Australian researcher Melanie, who was to conduct her PhD studies on Fur Seals here. After the formalities, we set sail immediately to nearby Sandy Bay where we spent the rest of the day amongst throngs of penguins. The weather was glorious and our stay here was one of the highlights of our Subantarctic adventure. Thousands of endemic Royal and exquisite King Penguins were loafing on the sandy beaches and at their colony, further inland, some recently hatched chicks drew our attention. Just sitting on the beach and being inspected by these well-dressed gentlemen was just incredible. What a fantastic and memorable experience! Lots of weaners, the young, but already quite large pups of Elephant Seals were strewn all over the place together with just a few adults. We were also able to study the subtle differences between Southern and Northern Giant Petrels here and admired the fetching white morph of the former. Nearby we found a small party of endemic Macquarie Shags and dozens of formidable-looking Subantarctic Skuas, whilst introduced European Rabbits scurried amongst the remains of the tussock grass. In late afternoon two big males and a female Killer Whale were observed cruising close inshore. The spectacular huge fin of the bulls was very impressive and they were obviously trying to track down a tasty penguin or seal! Next morning in southern Macquarie we enjoyed a naiad cruise along the shore of an immense King Penguin colony, that held c750,000 pairs. Sadly it was a bit too rough to get really close inshore, but the smells and sights of this amazing spectacle will remain with us for a long time. We then returned to the ANARE base at the northern tip of this Australian island and visited the surroundings of this well organised assemblage of buildings and cabins. We found lovely Gentoo Penguins with hungry chicks, observed a small colony of Rockhopper Penguins and Macquarie Shags, noted several Grey Duck and had to pick our way carefully amongst those snorting giant slugs that turned out to be Elephant Seals. Just before leaving we were invited to some tasty scones and a hot drink in the spacious mess and then it was time to say goodbye to our gracious hosts and board our favourite vessel, which took us northeast towards our next destination, Campbell Island. Misty conditions with less than 50m visibility obstructed birding, but next day we had many excellent looks at a wide selection of tubenoses, most of which had already been seen. Little Shearwater, many Antarctic Prions, Blue Petrel, 80+ White-headed Petrels and great views of Grey-backed and Black-bellied Storm Petrels were much appreciated.

Our visit to Campbell Island started with low cloud and drizzle, but it soon cleared up and turned in to a superb sunny day. We first searched for the endemic Campbell Island Teal in a secluded bay, but we could not locate any at all, although 105 have been released in the past two years. The many nesting Southern Royal Albatrosses provided a sight to behold and although the spread out colony was a bit quiet in the morning, more display activity of these huge seabirds was encountered later on. Truly magnificent animals. The many splendid multi-coloured megaherbs are doing well now, since the recent eradication of rats and walking amongst these was quite something. At Perseverance Harbour, where we had anchored in sheltered waters, a small raft of Campbell Island Shags offered good looks and our after dinner departure from the island was enlivened by a large party of New Zealand Sea-Lions, a colony of Campbell Island Shags and a Little Shearwater. We then continued our travels towards the Antipodes and the calm seas were slowly whipped up by increasing winds.

No less than 22 species of tubenoses were noted the following day, including the distinctive Antipodean Albatross, hundreds of Campbell Mollymawks, Antarctic Fulmar and our first Wilson's Storm Petrel. We had fun sorting out the prions, as we could check our identification prowess on the screens of the digital cameras, that offered detailed features of these challenging seabirds.

We arrived at the Antipodes in late morning, after having sorted through lots of tubenose activity including hundreds of Fairy Prions, several Fulmar Prions and lots of White-headed Petrels. The best bay for naiad cruising was lashed by waves and a strong wind, so we found a more sheltered area along the northeast coast. At Anchorage Bay we obtained great views of several colonies of Erect-crested Penguins, our main quarry here. This attractive penguin displays a magnificent photogenic hairdo and the busy colonies were extremely noisy. Some pairs already had fairly large chicks and there were also several Rockhopper Penguins about. We spent a bit of time checking out patches of fern and tussock grass along the steep slopes where we first found Red-crowned Parakeets of the distinctive endemic race hochstetteri , with its distinctive yellow wings. And then, luckily, we located a couple of Antipodes Parakeets offering fair views from our wobbly naiad. Always a good one to get!

Upon leaving the Antipodes we were treated to an amazing seabird spectacle when chumming with chunks of fish allowed great views of different kinds of albatrosses and mollymawks coming very close to the ship including Black-browed, Campbell and Salvin's Mollymawks and smart Antipodean Albatrosses. Lots of Cape Petrels of both forms and a lone Antarctic Fulmar were also attracted to the free food supply. Later seabirding from the upper deck yielded good views of lots of Little Shearwaters.

Next dawn found us at the isolated granitic rocks of the Bounty Islands, the smallest of New Zealand's Subantarctic islands. When we approached, the ship was immediately surrounded by thousands of Salvin's Mollymawks, one of the distinctive forms of Shy Mollymawk. What an amazing spectacle this was. Pure magic seeing all these beautiful seabirds at such close range. We then boarded our faithful naiads, but getting in and out of them proved a little iffy because of the two meter swell. But once firmly seated in these trustworthy little boats we were able to get really close to these guano-covered islands whose shores were littered with a great mixture of New Zealand Fur Seals and Erect-crested Penguins. Many newly born pups of the fur seals were playing around and the penguin activity was at a premium. What a spectacle. Several thousand breeding Salvin's Mollymawks and smaller numbers of endemic Bounty Island Shags favoured the higher reaches. The total population of the shag breeds on these few isolated bits of rock and numbers only c500 pairs. We also had great views of Fulmar Prions and Antarctic Terns around their nesting ledges here.

Around midday we started sailing north towards the Chatham Islands in very calm seas and sunny weather, which seduced several New Zealanders to appear in shorts for a bout of sunbathing. Good records included our first Northern Royal Albatrosses, some Little Shearwaters, several Soft-plumaged Petrels and a small pod of Dusky Dolphins. Early next morning a party of keen Birdquesters and quite a few other birders were eagerly scanning the seas in the hope of picking up one of the rarer gadfly petrels and we kept this vigil up until we approached the famous Pyramid Rock in the Chatham Islands. Alas, no luck with either Magenta or Chatham Island Petrel, but we had many great views of Northern Royal Albatrosses, saw the Salvin's Mollymawks slowly being replaced by the cracking Chatham Island Mollymawks and noted a single Pacific Mollymawk (the northern form of Buller's). We counted no less than 285 White-faced Storm Petrels and connected with a pod of 20 Long-finned Pilot Whales!

We circled Pyramid Rock by ship and admired the c5,000 pairs of the handsome Chatham Island Mollymawks at their only breeding place in the world. We also noted small numbers of Pitt Island Shags, another species with a very restricted range. Afterwards, we had many great views of the mollymawks whilst chumming nearby. We then sailed towards nearby South East Island where the wave action was a bit too much, so we anchored a bit further away and waited for calmer seas to come. In the morning a naiad cruise in rather bumpy conditions along the shore of South East Island gave us several smashing Shore Plovers, definitely one of the world's rarest and most attractive waders. Later we sailed amongst the islands of the Chatham Archipelago and had a look at Mangere Island, where the Black Robin saga happened and where, frustratingly, several other unreachable endemics make a living. Several neat Chatham Island Shags and a couple of bow-riding pods of Bottlenose Dolphins provided more entertainment. We anchored off the southwest point of the Main Island where several dozen Pacific Mollymawks (one of the forms of Buller's Mollymawk) were enjoying the fish scraps handed to them by our fishing Russian crew.

When the sun appeared at the horizon the following morning, we found the ship off Waitangi, the capital of the Chatham Islands, where we landed at the dock obtaining great views of a Pitt Island Shag with its beautiful bright green face. Several Welcome Swallows welcomed us on shore here and we then boarded the local school bus that took us south across meadows with sheep and gorse and sleepy farms to a forested gully. Here we soon found several distinctive Chatham Island Pigeons, noting why they are so different from the mainland form of New Zealand Pigeon. A Chatham Island Warbler showed briefly amongst lots of Silvereyes and a few Fantails. Several sturdy Wekas enlivened our return trip to Waitangi, where scanning the beach didn't deliver the hoped for Chatham Island Oystercatcher. We had no luck with this one and sadly didn't have enough time to visit its more regular haunts further north. We paid a quick visit to the local pub but the famous local Black Robin beer was no longer available, definitely a major dip on Pete and Dave's beer lifelist. In mid afternoon we started sailing west southwest, observed several more Pitt Island and Chatham Island Shags and then started the long sea voyage to Dunedin on the eastern coast of New Zealand's South Island. Very few birds were encountered during the rest of the afternoon and evening and a single Arctic Skua was the highlight.

Next day was incredibly misty and produced only observations of Cook's Petrels, Great-winged Petrel (of the distinctive Grey-faced form) and Broad-billed Prion. Our last full day at sea was a beautiful sunny day with no wind and we were reminded of the previous Birdquest tour in November/December 2005 that suffered regular gales on this stretch with everyone being virtually confined to their beds. We were watching an excellent selection of tubenoses from the sundeck in t-shirts and sunglasses and the best birds today included no less than eight different taxa of albatrosses and mollymawks and hundreds of striking Buller's Shearwaters, often at extremely close range. Upon approaching the coast of South Island, several dozen Hutton's Shearwaters and a couple of swift Dusky Dolphins obliged. In late evening we anchored at the entrance of Otago Harbour and enjoyed a magnificent final classic sunset in all its fiery glory. A great finale to a glorious trip on a most hospitable vessel!!!