New Zealand Waterbirds 1

 

Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae) portrait.
Picton, New Zealand. 

In October 2024 Diane I made a three-week trip to New Zealand.  We visited many parks and natural areas on the North Island, South Island and Stewart Island.  I have written about sea birds, forests and land birds in previous blogs.  I will finish discussing New Zealand with two blogs on waterbirds.  These blogs will emphasize birds that spend their lives in and around freshwater or the seacoasts of New Zealand.  Many of these birds are endemic to the islands and some are critically endangered.  

Cormorants are medium to large, waterbirds with a worldwide distribution.  Another common name for cormorant is shag and these two names are sometimes used interchangeably.  Cormorants dive for fish that they catch with their long, hooked beaks. 

Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax varius).
Tawharanui Regional Park, New Zealand. 

Pied Cormorant on nest with young.
Ashley Estuary, New Zealand

Pied Cormorants (Phalacrocorax varius) are large black and white birds endemic to New Zealand and Australia.  They have a gray beak and a yellow spot between the base of the beak and the eye.  We saw these impressive birds on both the North and South Islands including nesting pairs with young.  In New Zealand these birds are usually called Pied Shags.  

Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarbo melanoleucos).
Rotorua, New Zealand. 

Little Pied Cormorants.
 Rotorua, New Zealand. 

Little Pied Cormorants (Microcarbo melanoleucos) look very similar to its larger cousins the Pied Cormorants.  Little Pied Cormorants are black and white with a short, yellow beak, and are smaller than Pied Cormorants.  They are found in Australia, New Zealand, many South Pacific islands, New Guinea and eastern Indonesia. 

Spotted Shag (Stictocarbo punctatus).
Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand. 

Spotted Shag portrait.
Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand.

The Spotted Shag (Stictocarbo punctatus) is another black and white cormorant but is unmistakable.  With their black crests, green face patches blue eyes rings and elegant spots on the back and wings, Spotted Shags are standouts in the cormorant world.  This New Zealand endemic is most common on the South Island. 

 

New Zealand King Shag (Leuocarbo carunculatus).
Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand. 

New Zealand King Shag portrait.
Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand. 

New Zealand King Shags (Leucocarbo carunculatus) are the most impressive of the New Zealand cormorants. They are large black and white birds with pink feet, a blue eye ring and yellow tissue called caruncles at the base of the beak.  New Zealand King Shags breed only in the Marlborough Sounds at the north end of the South Island.  Their population is around 700 individuals, and their conservation status is given as Vulnerable. We were lucky to see a single New Zealand King Shag in Queen Charlotte Sound.  This bird had a band on its leg identifying it as number 11.  

Brown Teal (Anas chlorotis).
Tawharanui Regional Park, New Zealand. 

Brown Teal hiding on a creek bank.
Tawharanui  Regional Park, New Zealand.

We saw several species of endemic ducks on the trip.  Brown Teal (Anas chlorotis) are brown ducks with a bold white eye ring.  They are a threatened, endemic species found primarily on the North Island. Brown Teal are most active at night and prefer small creeks.  The population of Brown Teal has been greatly reduced by introduced predators and are most commonly seen in areas where fences and other predator controls are in force.    

New Zealand Scaup (Aythya novaeseelandiae).
Rotorua, New Zealand. 

New Zealand Scaups (Aythya novaeseelandiae) are endemic diving ducks found on both the North and South Islands.  They are small, dark ducks with a blue beak and yellow eyes. New Zealand Scaups live on freshwater lakes and ponds where they make long dives underwater then pop, cork like, to the surface. 

Blue Duck (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos).
Tongariro National Park. 

The most impressive duck we saw was the Blue Duck (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos).  These endemic ducks are found in fast moving mountain streams.  The Māori name for the Blue Duck is Whio, pronounced fee-oh. This indigenous name is based on the whistled call of the male duck.  Blue Ducks are blue-gray with chestnut breast feathers, yellow eyes and a white beak.  Blue Ducks are endangered and suffer from the depredations of stoats and other introduced predators.  We saw a single Blue Duck sitting on a rock, with its head tucked under the wing in the Whakapapanui Stream in Tongariro National Park. 

White-fronted Terns (Sterna striata).
Cook Strait, New Zealand. 

White-fronted Terns (Sterna striata) were abundant along the seashore throughout New Zealand. They nest on cliffs and offshore islands and many young birds migrate to the coast of Australia in the fall.  White-fronted Terns are white with a swallow tail, gray back and wings, black feet, black bill and black cap with a white patch at the base of the beak that gives them their name.  

Black-fronted Tern (Chlidonias albostriatus).
Twizel, New Zealand. 

Black-fronted Tern.
Twizel, New Zealand. 

Black-fronted Terns (Chlidonias albostriatus) are small, light gray terns with yellow-orange feet and beak and a black cap that extends all the way to the beak.  They are mostly found on the South Island and breed in braided river valleys fed by glaciers.  Black-fronted Terns are endemic to New Zealand and are an endangered species.  

Kelp Gulls (Larus dominicanus).
Katiki Point, New Zealand.  

Kelp Gulls (Larus dominicanus) are widely distributed in the Southern Hemisphere from Antarctic Islands to southern South America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.  These large gulls have a dark gray mantle and wings, white head, breast and belly and a large yellow beak with an orange spot.  We saw Kelp Gulls throughout New Zealand.  

Black-billed Gull (Chroicocephalus bulleri).
Picton, New Zealand.

Black-billed Gulls (Chroicocephalus bulleri) are small gulls found only in New Zealand.  They are white with gray wings and back, black legs and black beaks.  Black-billed Gulls breed in braided river valleys but can be found in many inland and coastal habitats.  Most of the population of this Near Threatened species is found on the South Island but its numbers are increasing on the North Island.

Silver Gull. 
Tawharanui Regional Park, New Zealand. 

Silver Gull breeding colony.
Kaikoura Peninsula, New Zealand. 

The Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae) is the most elegant of the New Zealand gulls.  It is white with gray wings, brilliant red legs, a red beak and a bold red eye ring.  These small gulls are found in Australia, New Caledonia and both islands of New Zealand.  Silver Gulls nest in large colonies on sea cliffs and offshore islands.  Silver Gulls adapt well to people and are commonly seen in urban environments where they can become pests.  

Sign warning diners about Silver Gulls at an outdoor cafe.
Kaikoura, New Zealand. 
Photo by Diane Coggin.

The waterbirds of New Zealand are as beautiful as they are varied.  I will continue with more wonderous waterbirds in the next blog.