Birds of the Hump Ridge Track

The Hump Ridge Track was officially opened as Aotearoa New Zealand’s eleventh Great Walk in late October 2024. Te Papa natural history curator Dr Colin Miskelly walked the track a few weeks later and compared its birdaciousness with the ten other Great Walks.

The newest Great Walk

The Hump Ridge Track, in the extreme south-east corner of Fiordland National Park, originally opened in 2001. Rising from the shoreline of Te Waewae Bay to 960 m above sea level, the 3-day walk provides spectacular views over western Foveaux Strait and Fiordland before looping back to the start (about 10 km of Te Waewae Bay is walked on both the way in and out).

Following major upgrades to the track, including extensive new boardwalks and steps, the track was officially re-opened with Great Walk status in October 2024.

Hump Ridge is accessed from Tuatapere, an hour’s drive west of Invercargill. The ridge (and track) is adjacent to Waitutu Forest, the largest unlogged lowland forest in Aotearoa. At 66 km, the Hump Ridge Track is the second longest Great Walk (not counting the Whanganui Journey, where travel is by canoe or kayak).

Most of the track passes through beech forest or mixed podocarp and beech forest, including a section west of Port Craig that was logged in the 1920s. After descending from Hump Ridge, the track follows about 10 km of tramline that was used to haul logs to New Zealand’s largest sawmill, at Port Craig. Although the mill closed in 1928, several impressive wooden viaducts from the sawmill era have been restored and maintained as part of the South Coast Track and Hump Ridge Track.

At 125 metres long and 36 metres high, the Percy Burn viaduct is considered to be the largest remaining wooden viaduct in the world. Ironically, the viaducts were constructed with Australian hardwoods, which are more durable than New Zealand timbers.

Forest birds

The Hump Ridge Track has a good range of forest birds, including several ‘deep endemic species’ (i.e. birds from families or genera that are endemic to New Zealand, as explained in the first blog in this series).

Bellbird | Korimako, and Tomtit | Ngirungiru are common throughout the forest, along with a few other species that regularly occur in urban areas (e.g.  New Zealand Fantail | Pīwakawaka and Grey Warbler | Riroriro). We saw two black fantails among the 13 fantails seen on the Hump Ridge Track (15%). Although a small sample size, this ratio reflects the high proportion of black fantails that I encountered in the nearby Takitimu and Longwood Ranges just 8 months earlier, while walking Te Araroa Trail (also 15%). Black fantails are a genetic variant of the more familiar pied birds (the two forms interbreed readily and are the same species).

South Island Robins | Kakaruai were frequently heard singing, and were occasionally seen  from the track. These confiding birds are one of the few species that most walkers notice and comment on. Tūī and Kererū | New Zealand Pigeon were also present, though mainly near the coast.

Among the species that are most readily detected if you know their calls is the Brown Creeper | Pīpipi. We mainly encountered Pīpipi in the higher altitude forest, and had several close encounters (26 recorded on eight of the 2-km transects). Pīpipi are one of the hosts of Long-tailed Cuckoo | Koekoeā, which we heard calling at four sites, including from Port Craig Lodge.

Kākā and Yellow-crowned Parakeet | Kākāriki were heard at a few sites, and we saw one Kākā at Edwin Burn viaduct. The nearby Waitutu Forest is one of the South Island strongholds for this large forest parrot.

Riflemen | Tītitipounamu were present but scarce in subalpine forest – we recorded just four of these tiny birds, at three locations.

Birds of the coast

Four species of shag were seen along the coast, including the local endemic Foveaux Shag | Mapo.

Both species of oystercatcher (Variable Oystercatcher | Tōrea Pango and South Island Pied Oystercatcher | Tōrea) were roosting along the long sweep of Te Waewae Bay, and a colony of White-fronted Terns | Tara were nesting on stacks east of Blowholes Beach.

A final surprise

As we were about to recross the swing bridge across Waikōau River, I was surprised to hear a pair of Fernbirds | Mātātā calling from a thicket of pōhuehue. While this furtive species is common in wetlands further east, I was unaware of any records near Hump Ridge Track.

Endemic birds seen or heard on the Hump Ridge Track

• Score 4 Kākā, Rifleman | Tītitipounamu, Brown Creeper | Pīpipi
• Score 3  Kererū | New Zealand Pigeon, Bellbird | Korimako, Tūī
• Score 2 Paradise Shelduck | Pūtangitangi, Long-tailed Cuckoo | Koekoeā, Variable Oystercatcher | Tōrea Pango, South Island Pied Oystercatcher | Tōrea, White-fronted Tern | Tara, Foveaux Shag | Mapo, Spotted Shag | Kawau Tikitiki, Yellow-crowned Parakeet | Kākāriki, Grey Warbler | Riroriro, New Zealand Fantail | Pīwakawaka, Tomtit | Ngirungiru, South Island Robin | Kakaruai, Fernbird | Mātātā
• Score 1 Red-billed Gull | Tarāpunga, Little Shag | Kawaupaka, Pied Shag | Kāruhiruhi
• Endemic bird score = 50 points
• Ranking = 5th out of 11
• Additional possible endemic birds (not seen or heard by me): Shining Cuckoo | Pīpīwharauroa, Kea, Ruru | Morepork, New Zealand Kingfisher | Kōtare, New Zealand Falcon | Kārearea, New Zealand Pipit | Pīhoihoi

The Hump Ridge Track scored the same as the Paparoa Track and Rakiura Track, but edges ahead of the Paparoa Track on a tie-breaker due to the longer list of additional endemic birds that were missed.

For up-to-date information on hut bookings and other information on the Hump Ridge Track, see the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track webpage.

Other blogs in this series

• Birds of the Great Walks of Aotearoa New Zealand
• Birds of the Whanganui Journey ‘Great Walk’
• Birds of the Tongariro Northern Circuit
• Birds of Lake Waikaremoana Track
• Birds of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track
• Birds of the Routeburn Track
• Birds of the Paparoa Track
• Birds of the Rakiura Track
• Birds of the Kepler Track
• Birds of the Milford Track
• Birds of the Heaphy Track