Between November 2023 and March 2024, Natural History curator Colin Miskelly is walking the length of Aotearoa New Zealand on Te Araroa Trail – counting every bird seen or heard along the way. In this thirteenth blog in the series, Colin describes birds encountered while crossing Cook Strait | Raukawa Moana and then walking through the Marlborough Sounds to Havelock.

Crossing Cook Strait | Raukawa Moana

If walking southbound on Te Araroa, the North Island section finishes at Island Bay on the Wellington south coast, and the South Island section begins at Ship Cove | Meretoto near the entrance to Queen Charlotte Sound | Tōtaranui. Te Araroa walkers are left to find their own way between the trail heads, and most do so via an inter-island ferry to Picton and then a water taxi to Ship Cove.

I am fortunate to be based in Wellington and to have good friends who are part-owners of a yacht that is suitable for crossing Raukawa Moana. They were keen to be part of our Te Araroa adventure. However, skipper Mike Jacobson warned us several days out that forecast high winds would likely prevent us sailing on our long-scheduled date.

We put in some long days in the southern Tararua Ranges and the approaches to Wellington, and were able to sail a day early, and thereby beat the weather system.

Our route from Mana Marina, Paremata, took us past Mana Island, which has been one of my main research sites for the past three decades (see From farm to forest – the transformation of Mana Island).

One of the long-term projects I am involved with on the island has been the translocation of several seabird species, and follow-up monitoring of those that returned and bred (see A box of fluffy birds and Slow progress with restoring New Zealand seabirds).

The chicks of two of the translocated seabird species fledge (depart to sea) in late January, and so mid-January is the best time to put a numbered band on their leg, so that they can be identified if and when they return to the island.

With the support of the Mana Island ranger, two of us were able to land for a few hours to band the last five fluttering shearwater | pakahā chicks and the last ten fairy prion| tītī wainui chicks (the larger chicks of both species had been banded by my co-researchers a month earlier).

Mana Island is not part of Te Araroa, but the island is open to the public for day visits, and transport can be booked via Go Mana. 

Queen Charlotte Track

Te Araroa Trail resumes at the historic location of Ship Cove | Meretoto at the start of the Queen Charlotte Track. Captain Cook visited the site on all three of his voyages of exploration, and so Meretoto was one of the first sites where there were prolonged (and mostly amicable) interactions between Māori and Pākehā.

From Meretoto, the Queen Charlotte Track meanders for 73.5 km south to Anakiwa. There are numerous accommodation options en route. As Te Araroa walkers are already carrying tents, most choose to stay at two or more of the campsites along the way.

Anakiwa to Havelock

From Anakiwa, Te Araroa follows the Link Pathway for 4 km out to Queen Charlotte Drive, then another 22 km into Havelock.

Birds of Cook Strait

A great diversity of seabirds can be seen in Cook Strait, regardless of the size of the vessel that you cross it on. However, most will be some distance away, and so it helps to have a pair of binoculars and a bird guide – or at least do some homework on what bird species to expect.

There were relatively few birds about in the afternoon that we crossed, but we still managed to count 2 white-capped mollymawks | toroa, a northern giant petrel | pāngurunguru, about 300 fairy prions | tītī wainui, 3 Buller’s shearwaters | rako, 5 sooty shearwaters | tītī, 3 flesh-footed shearwaters | toanui, and 45 fluttering shearwaters | pakahā, as well as a single sperm whale! Fluttering shearwaters are common within Queen Charlotte Sound, but most of the other species are rarely seen within enclosed waterways.

As we entered Queen Charlotte Sound, we passed the White Rocks, which are one of the few breeding sites for the New Zealand king shag | kawau pāteketeke – we counted at least 93, including adults and juveniles. This rare, local-endemic shag is one of the feature birds of Queen Charlotte Sound, and many of the water taxi/ecotourism operators will point them out to Te Araroa walkers that they have on board.

Birds of Motuara Island

We moored the yacht between Motuara and Hippah Islands, and were serenaded through the night by the nocturnal calls of sooty shearwaters | tītī and fluttering shearwaters | pakahā, both of which nest on these nearly-touching islands.

There are public tracks on Motuara Island, and most of the companies that provide transport to Ship Cove | Meretoto from Picton offer the option of an hour or so ashore on the island. This is strongly recommended, as it is the only site near Te Araroa Trail that South Island saddleback | tīeke can be seen, and is also a great place to see South Island robins | kakaruai and yellow-crowned parakeets | kākāriki, along with other more common forest birds.

Birds of the Queen Charlotte Track

There was never any doubt what the feature bird for this section of Te Araroa Trail would be. Weka are likely to be the first birds seen when Te Araroa walkers step ashore at Ship Cove | Meretoto and are present (and over-familiar!) at most of the campsites and picnic tables along the trail.

As explained below, not all interactions with these large flightless rails are positive, but most walkers are fascinated by their antics.

There are several bird species that are endemic to the South Island (i.e. they don’t occur in the North Island), and one that is common along the Queen Charlotte Track is brown creeper or pīpipi. Note that this bird is quite unlike (and completely unrelated to) the North American brown creeper. It is related to the North Island endemic whitehead │ pōpokotea, and both behave in a similar way, including calling loudly from the forest canopy.

Like most New Zealand forest birds, encounter rates are far higher if you can recognise their calls. I counted 20 pīpipi on the Queen Charlotte Track, along with 196 bellbirds | korimako, 178 silvereyes | tauhou, 41 New Zealand fantails | pīwakawaka, 26 weka, 11 tūī, 4 long-tailed cuckoos | koekoeā, and a single New Zealand falcon | kārearea (plus another falcon over Motuara Island).

Another feature of South Island | Te Waipounamu forest bird communities is that a small proportion of the fantail | pīwakawaka population is black. They are the same species as the more familiar pied birds, and the two colour morphs interbreed freely. We saw three black fantails along the Queen Charlotte Track, which was 11.1 % of the 27 fantails that we saw (the other 14 were heard only).

Birds between Anakiwa and Havelock

The Link Pathway/Te Araroa passes along tidal sections of Okiwa Bay, Mahakipawa Arm and Kaituna Estuary, where extensive mudflats are exposed at low tide.

Depending on the state of the tide, birds may be spread out on the mudflats feeding, or pushed up onto their high tide roosts, some of which are close to the trail.

The highlight was watching a banded rail | moho pererū catching mud crabs along the edge of Mahakipawa Arm. This was only the third banded rail we had seen on Te Araroa Trail, and the first south of Auckland.

Other birds of the mudflats included 161 South Island pied oystercatchers | tōrea, 96 black swans | kakīānau, 76 red-billed gulls | tarāpunga, 48 white-faced herons | matuku moana, 44 royal spoonbills | kōtuku ngutupapa, 25 southern black-backed gulls | karoro, 13 variable oystercatchers | tōrea pango, 12 pied stilts | poaka, 4 Caspian terns | taranui, and 3 each black shags | māpunga and sacred kingfisher | kōtare.

Maud Island wildlife

As we had crossed Cook Strait | Raukawa Moana a day ahead of schedule, we decided to ‘burn’ a day in Marlborough before continuing south, so that we would not need to adjust bookings and other commitments further south on the trail.

Friends Nick and Gen had shifted their young family from Mana Island to Maud Island | Te Pākeka in Pelorus Sound 2 years ago, and are now enjoying a stint as Department of Conservation rangers on a third island (having previously worked on Kāpiti Island also). With a few days warning for them to arrange the required approvals, we were privileged to fit in an overnight visit to Te Pākeka before heading into the Richmond Range.

Maud Island | Te Pākeka is a permit-only island and played an important role in the early days of the kākāpō and takahē recovery programmes, but few threatened birds are present there now. The most notable feature of the bird community during our brief visit were numerous kererū | New Zealand pigeons performing their spectacular aerial courtship displays.

The true wildlife value of this special island is most apparent after dark, when many species that are vulnerable to introduced predators emerge from the shadows.

The island holds the largest population of Hamilton’s frogs (one of New Zealand’s three endemic frog species – all of which are rare or endangered), and we also saw many Cook Strait giant wētā, Cook Strait flightless click beetles, flax weevils, Raukawa geckos, and a single southern striped gecko.

Travails on the trail

Several of the blogs in this series have touched on the severe impacts of introduced mammals on the native birds of Aotearoa. Some of these same mammals – particularly house mice, ship rats, and brushtail possums – can also be a nuisance (or worse) for Te Araroa Trail walkers.

A particularly bold mouse in Te Matawai Hut in the Tararua Ranges made its presence known before dark. Despite attempting to place my pack out-of-reach, it still managed to reach it and chew through a mesh pocket to reach a muesli bar.

Several campsites along Te Araroa Trail are well-known among walkers for their partying possums that will seek out any poorly concealed food or rubbish bags, and several hikers lost their prized stashes of chocolate (a possum favourite).

However, introduced pests aren’t the only animal that can ruin an otherwise good day on the trail. An unfortunate Belgian and French couple at the same campsite made the error of leaving their tent zipper within beak-reach of a weka.

The wily bird managed to create an opening large enough for it to squeeze inside the tent while the owners were distracted playing cards in the nearby shelter. After inspecting the tent’s contents, the weka panicked when it could not find the opening that it had created, and did what distressed weka do.

[Original image withheld for reasons of good taste – Ed. Replace with image of juvenile weka.]

For those unfamiliar with the toileting habits of weka, there are three notable characteristics. Their faeces are vile smelling, they stick like proverbial sh*t to a blanket, and (for the size of the bird) they produce quantities reminiscent of the amount of custard that Baldrick was able to extract from a small cat (refer Blackadder Goes Forth – Episode 1). Cue two very unhappy campers.

Bird species added since the previous section

Brown creeper | pīpipi (also black morph New Zealand fantail | pīwakawaka)

Summary statistics for section twelve

Cumulative totals for Te Araroa sections completed are given in parentheses.

• Days on the trail = 5 (73)
• Kilometres travelled and surveyed = 96.1 (1931.5)
• eBird/Atlas checklists completed = 56 (1051)
• Number of bird species = 47 (98)
• Total birds seen or heard = 2133 (75,613)
• Most abundant species = silvereye │ tauhou (272)
• Most abundant endemic species = bellbird │ korimako (219)
• Most frequent species = bellbird and silvereye (both 84.3 % of checklists)
• Endemic bird score = 36

Other blogs in this series

• Birds of Te Araroa 19 – Te Anau Highway to Bluff
• Birds of Te Araroa 18 – Wānaka to the Te Anau Highway
• Birds of Te Araroa 17 – Twizel to Wānaka
• Birds of Te Araroa 16 – Rakaia River to Twizel
• Birds of Te Araroa 15 – Boyle River to Rakaia River
• Birds of Te Araroa 14 – St Arnaud to Boyle Village
• Birds of Te Araroa 13 – Havelock to St Arnaud
• Birds of Te Araroa 11 – Palmerston North to Wellington
• Birds of Te Araroa 10 – Whanganui to Palmerston North
• Birds of Te Araroa 9 – National Park to Whanganui
• Birds of Te Araroa 8 – Taumarunui to National Park
• Birds of Te Araroa 7 – Te Kūiti to Taumarunui
• Birds of Te Araroa 6 – Hamilton to Te Kūiti
• Birds of Te Araroa 5 – Auckland to Hamilton
• Birds of Te Araroa 4 – Whangārei Harbour to Auckland
• Birds of Te Araroa 3 – Kerikeri to Whangārei Harbour
• Birds of Te Araroa 2 – Kaitāia to Kerikeri
• Birds of Te Araroa 1 – Cape Reinga to Kaitāia
• Every Last Bird – the Birds of Te Araroa Trail

Related blogs

• Birds of the Great Walks of Aotearoa New Zealand