New Zealand, Oct 2024
This was a family holiday, not a birding expedition, so photography was on an 'ad hoc' basis. I shouldn’t have been, but I was stunned by the birding situation in NZ. The introduction of rats, stoats, cats and possums has devastated the native bird life, which evolved without exposure to many natural predators. On top of these challenges, the European settlers introduced an array of familiar birds to out compete the local fauna e.g. Blackbirds, Swallows, Starlings, Song Thrush, Yellowhammers and Mallards. Really sad to see. Seabirds We had good views of seabirds from the whale watching boat from Kaikoura, although I'm not sure of the species level ID. Albatross Shearwater Petrel Banded Dotterel The Banded Dotterel (also known as the Double-banded Plover) is a small, native shorebird found throughout New Zealand. These birds inhabit coastal areas, estuaries, riverbeds, and sandy beache...