Aotearoa New Zealand has eleven official Great Walks. Te Papa natural history curator Dr Colin Miskelly has walked (or paddled) them all, and kept records of the birds that he encountered along the way. In this fifth blog in the series, he reports on the birds encountered while walking the Abel Tasman Coastal Track.
Golden sands – and weka
The Abel Tasman Coastal Track is a 60 km track along the coastal edge of Abel Tasman National Park in the northern South Island. The full track runs between Wainui in the north and Marahau in the south, although many people start (or finish) their walk at Totaranui, about 41 km from Marahau.
Others choose to explore the national park by sea kayak. However, this blog covers birds that can be seen from the Great Walk, including seabirds seen from land.
The track is best known for its coastal scenery. In addition, many bird species can be seen along the way, as the track passes through or along a diversity of habitats, including forest, sandy beaches, rocky coasts, estuaries and other coastal wetlands.
Weka are one of New Zealand’s flightless birds and have disappeared from much of the mainland. They are common all along the track, and are more likely to be seen here (and in greater numbers) than on any of the other Great Walks.
Coastal and wetland birds
The previous blogs in this series all covered inland sites. Coastal habitats, including estuaries, open coasts, and near-shore marine habitats, have a greater diversity of birds than New Zealand forests. However, coastal birds are typically strong fliers and (as a consequence) are either the same or closely related to species in other countries, especially Australia. This means that they have low individual endemism scores (see Birds of the Great Walks of Aotearoa New Zealand for an explanation of the scoring system), but can contribute to high cumulative scores when added to ‘deep endemic’ forest birds.
Endemic coastal and wetland birds that may be seen along the Abel Tasman Coastal Track include two species of oystercatcher, three species of shag, two species of tern, and Banded Dotterel | Pohowera.
Among the wetland bird species that can be seen along the Abel Tasman Coastal Track are Banded Rails | Moho Pererū on the salt-marshes at Marahau (especially on a falling tide), and Fernbirds | Mātātā in low, dense vegetation at the heads of many of the inlets.
Forest birds – and restoration efforts
A feature of New Zealand forests is that many endemic bird species are rare or absent in lowland forests, but can still be found at higher altitudes. This was the case when I first walked Abel Tasman National Park tracks in the 1980s. Kākā, Rifleman | Tītitipounamu, Brown Creeper | Pīpipi and South Island Robin | Kakaruai were readily seen on the inland tracks in the park, but were rare or absent on the coastal track. This is because introduced predators are scarcer in cold environments, allowing vulnerable bird species to persist.
A few more robust endemic bird species are better able to cope with predation, though they still benefit from predator control. We found Bellbirds | Koromako and Tomtits | Ngirungiru to be common on the coastal track in April 2023, with Kererū and Tūī scarcer and patchily distributed.
Over the past decade there has been a lot of effort to protect and restore native birds along the Abel Tasman Coastal Track, particularly by Project Janszoon and the Abel Tasman Birdsong Trust. This has included trapping for stoats and rats, and releases of threatened bird species, including Brown Teal | Pāteke, Kākā, and South Island Robin.
We managed to see all three species in 2023, including Pāteke that had spread from Awaroa to Bark Bay, and robins that had apparently flown from Adele Island to the adjacent mainland shore.
Endemic birds seen or heard on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track
- Score 4 Kākā, Brown Creeper | Pīpipi
- Score 3 Kererū | New Zealand Pigeon, Bellbird | Korimako, Tūī
- Score 2 Paradise Shelduck | Pūtangitangi, Brown Teal | Pāteke, Weka, Variable Oystercatcher | Tōrea Pango, South Island Pied Oystercatcher | Tōrea, Banded Dotterel | Pohowera, Black-fronted Tern | Tarapirohe, Fluttering Shearwater | Pakahā, Spotted Shag | Kawau Tikitiki, New Zealand Falcon | Kārearea, Grey Warbler | Riroriro, New Zealand Fantail | Pīwakawaka, Tomtit | Miromiro, South Island Robin | Kakaruai, Fernbird | Mātātā
- Score 1 Shining Cuckoo | Pīpīwharauroa, Banded Rail | Moho Pererū, Red-billed Gull | Tarāpunga, New Zealand Little Penguin | Kororā, Little Shag | Kawaupaka, Pied Shag | Kāruhiruhi, Ruru | Morepork, New Zealand Kingfisher | Kōtare
- Endemic bird score = 45 points
- Ranking = 8th out of 11
- Additional possible endemic birds (not seen or heard by me): Black-billed Gull | Tarāpuka, New Zealand Pipit | Pīhoihoi.
For up-to-date information on hut and campsite bookings on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track, see the Department of Conservation webpage Abel Tasman Coastal Track.
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 Routeburn Track
- Birds of the Paparoa Track
- Birds of the Hump Ridge Track
- Birds of the Rakiura Track
- Birds of the Kepler Track
- Birds of the Milford Track
- Birds of the Heaphy Track
[This blog was updated in November 2024, following addition of the Hump Ridge Track to the Great Walk network.]
