Now – the seabird site sampling begins.
Great Barrier Island or Aotea lies on the outer edge of Haurakai Gulf and is part of the Haurakai Gulf National Marine Park which encompasses 12 million hectares of coast, islands and ocean. The people of New Zealand value this area for its environmental and cultural significance.
Though it is only 90 km from Auckland to GBI, three of us took a 4.5 hours by ferry to get there. Derek and Grace (two other American researchers) were able to come with me for the first weekend. Heading out of the harbor we saw White-faced Heron, Variable Oystercatchers, Caspian Tern, White-fronted Tern, Black-backed gull, and Pied Shag. There were many seabirds flying around the ferry. Many were Fluttering Shearwater, there were some Cape Pigeon (not actually pigeons), and Australasian Gannets and many that I was not sure of. When we arrived at Tryphena Harbor, Greenie was waiting for us with my rental car. It was the tiniest car that I have ever driven. It is a Mazda and it get great gas mileage, but it does make me a little nervous on gravel and hills. The first day we just found the house, met our neighbor and walked around Schooner Bay and settled in. We had the coldest weekend in recent memory. It was down to -4°C in places and there was definitely frost on the grass in the morning. We are staying in an old farm house in Schooner Bay. It has a woodstove to warm it, gas stove for cooking, and a different woodstove to heat water.
Saturday – I dropped Derek and Grace off at Windy Canyon to hike up Mnt Hobson. Since I will be spending all week up there working, I opted to check out wetlands, streams and beaches in search of Great Barrier Birds. I asked a clerk in a store about paths to get into wetland or swampy areas, she asked a guy in the store, who told me to ask his dad in the truck outside who told me to go ask his Mum in the café around the corner. The grandma was sitting in the sun with her sister and the sisters’ two adult daughters. They were friendly and wanted to hear all about my work and what I was doing on Great Barrier Island and they were quite happy to tell me where to go to see each bird that I mentioned. I followed their directions and had a wonderful afternoon birding and seeing all the birds that I asked them about (including Pateke – Brown teal). Amazing. Finally as the afternoon wore on I needed to go and find Derek and Grace. We met up at a hot spring that was about 30 minute walk in from a parking area and was lovely. It was warm – hot surrounded by forest and there was even a Banded Rail running around. A great way to top off the day.
Sunday was pretty relaxed, we hiked up Mt. Whangaparapara (more gorgeous views), stopped for lunch at a roadside shack and spent the rest of the time that D and G had hitting a couple of beautiful mostly deserted beaches.
Many birds and plants flourish on GBI due to its relative lack of development and grazers and predators. The island lacks Norway rats, possum, stoats, other mustelids, hedgehogs and rainbow skink (I am not sure yet what those do). Folks took goats off the island recently but pigs, and feral cats remain. Many citizens seem to work towards keeping numbers low by trapping feral cats and hunting pigs. Everyone that I have spoken with here on GBI has shown a genuine interest in my work and has a good working knowledge of their environment.
Tuesday – July 14th
I met up with the DOC folks at 8:15 am at the parking area for Windy Canyon. I had Louse, of DOC and Nick, an Iwi representative with me. We made pretty good time, it was raining a little when we were starting out but spirits were high, and the sun came out soon after we began. We headed up Mount Hobson to begin our plots. Through the day it was in turns cold and windy to sunny. Once we were well into the densest Black petrel burrows, the habitat looked very similar to what I am used to on Kauai. The plants are different but the structure was the same. I am interested to see what the numbers will tell us about this area.