After our stop at Miranda we headed north to Auckland with the aim of visiting Tiritiri Matangi and Muriwai. Tiritiri Matangi is one of my favourite day trips as it is a short ferry ride from Gulf Harbour and relatively inexpensive ($55). You can take the ferry from downtown Auckland but this is more expensive ($70) and vehicle parking can be an issue so I prefer the early morning drive to Gulf Harbour where parking is easy, the ferry ride shorter and the cost less. If you were based in central Auckland, the Auckland departure would be better and gives a good scenic trip across the Hauraki Gulf to the Whangaparoa peninsula before the short hop from Gulf Harbour to the island.

The thing that always strikes me on arrival is the birdsong. The sheer volume of Bellbird, Tui, Saddleback and Kakariki calls is impressive and brings home just how much we have lost on the mainland due to predation on native birds by introduced species. There are a number of tracks that you can follow to explore the island and it’s habitats and most end up at the visitors centre near the lighthouse which is a good spot to stop for your picnic lunch. There is the option of staying overnight but this needs to be planned well in advance and booked with the Department of Conservation. I would love to do this and see the sun go down and rise from the island but haven’t yet had an opportunity where Edin and I are both free to co-ordinate this.

The weather for our visit this time was clear and hot with not much wind which made for a smooth ferry trip. We headed along the beach for a short way before cutting up toward the ridge on one of the lesser used tracks. This passed an area of great Fernbird habitat and we managed to see a couple but didn’t have a lot of luck in terms of good photo opportunities, partly because of the harsh light and partially just because of the habitat they prefer.

Each visit is different and this time we were lucky to see plenty of Brown Quail which were quite approachable. On previous visits I have seen them occasionally but never well enough to get a decent photo. Despite the bright light, the great dynamic range of the D810 allowed me to pull a reasonable image from this file despite part of the bird being in bright sun and the rest in shade.

I normally see Kokako and usually in one reliable spot along the ridge but this time we encountered them at four different locations, unfortunately no photos of any merit to share. This Bellbird posed conveniently close to the spot where I have seen Kokako on almost every previous visit.

A nectar feeder on the trip back down to the wharf is usually the best spot for Stitchbirds and this time didn’t disappoint with a swarm of attendant Bellbirds creating a chorus of sound.

See the NZbirdsonline page on the Stitchbird for more information on them. This page uses one of my previous Tiri photos as the cover image for the species and another photo I got on Kapiti Island in the species gallery along with an image of a female from Tiri.

I highly recommend a visit to Tiritiri Matangi for any keen birder or bird photographers. Every trip is different and never a disappointment.

See Edin’s blog for her post from this trip with some Saddleback images and see the Department of Conservation site for more information.