Falco novaeseelandiae

Given my difficult time on the hike into the first Routeburn hut yesterday, I decided to go ahead and leave the trail early. I thought I'd hike back out and just spend some time birdwatching in the beautiful Eglinton Valley instead.

I was back at the trailhead by 1 this afternoon. I drove up to the highest point of the road in search of the alpine Kea and Rock Wren, but found neither. After stopping in at a rest area and making a quick and restorative (and expensive!) phone call to a close friend back home at a payphone, I headed to Lake Gunn, a camping area with a nature walk. The campground is plopped right down in the middle of the valley, with mountains, forest, and water courses on all sides, and the birding in the beech forest there is said to be fantastic. Indeed I was not disappointed.

In fact the first bird I laid eyes on when I got out of the car was this one here, high in a tree along the road: the endemic New Zealand Falcon. This is the only extant endemic raptor species remaining in New Zealand, and part of a worldwide genus of beautiful masked falcons. I had seen one once before, at Mt Cook the morning after the most heinous weather ever, but it was flapping around high in the sky and not nearly so close. I watched this one watch me from its perch for a few minutes before I headed into the forest, which was teeming with birdlife.

Kaka screeched and flew overhead. The trees were rife with Riflemen, foraging in family groups. I saw Brown Creepers, a Grey Warbler, Fantails, Kakariki, Bellbirds, and the holiest grail of a bird yet, the rare, endangered, and hardly encountered Yellowhead, or Mohua. I couldn't believe my good fortune. While I felt some guilt and even shame for deserting my planned walk this morning, it resulted in the best mainland birding I've had in the country; it was just the right decision.