New Zealand Storm Petrel

Birding has been somewhat limited recently with me undertaking loads of work on our new house. I've got a very sore neck from painting four ceilings today! Anyway, you can't beat a good bit of reminiscing to take you away from the hum-drum of such exciting chores.

With news today that at least one breeding site of the recently re-discovered New Zealand Storm Petrel has finally been tracked down I thought I'd share some of my photos from a wonderful visit into the Hauraki  
Gulf on the 29th October 2005 with Chris Gaskin of Pterodroma Pelagics http://www.nzseabirds.com/index.php

The species was thought extinct as it had not been recorded for over 100 years then Brent Stephenson and Sav Saville saw one off the Coromandel Peninsula in January 2003. To read about the efforts undertaken to establish where the birds breed click here http://www.birdlife.org/community/2013/02/new-zealand-storm-petrel-discovered-breeding-50-km-from-auckland-city/

We were lucky with the weather on on the day and we saw at least one New Zealand Storm Petrel. I'm not always great on small boats but the pelagics in New Zealand were so good that I didn't have time to feel sea-sick!

Here's a selection of my photos of the bird of the moment:

New Zealand Storm Petrel - Hauraki Gulf 29th October 2005

What a treat!

We only saw one albatross on this particular trip but it was this stunning Salvin's

Salvin's Albatross

One of my favourite photos of the trip was of this Buller's Shearwater in a slightly odd pose:

Buller's Shearwater

Happy Days!!