We spent the morning exploring the coastline of Stewart island looking for seabirds. The white-capped albatross started following our boat hoping we were a fishing boat. We ended up with about a dozen around the boat. Two other kinds of albatross joined their whited-capped friends bobbing in the water around the boat. We also saw a number of migratory sea birds, including a Cape Petrel and a Sooty Shearwater. The last time we saw these birds was from high up on the bridge of the NatGeo ship in the Southern Ocean near South Georgia. Seeing the birds from water level was a treat. We worked our way around several different islands to see other wildlife including New Zealand fur seals, sea lions, Stewart Island Shags, and Pied Shags. Katharine got a quick view of a Little Blue Penguin porpoising. The captain of the boat is a many generation Stewart Islander (his family came in the 1860s) and started the first kiwi tours in 1999.
After a picnic lunch on the boat, we were dropped off at Ulva Island, a 21-mile long, predator-free sanctuary. Ulva was first settled by Englishmen in the 1860s, along with many of the offshore islands around Stewart; the original settler, Charles Trail, declared himself postmaster for the region, and his house still stands. There are pictures in the pub in Oban of Victorian ladies all dressed up for the social event that was rowing to Ulva to pick up the mail. Its a reminder of just how remote these islands are! Mr Trail was also a visionary who protected his land from lumbering in 1899.
The staff on Ulva fight an annual battle with rats who swim from the main island, but Ulva has been free of free of any weasels, stoats, possum or feral cats since 1999.. The island hosts a number of rare bird species that have died out on the mainland. During our outing we observed all the special island birds we’d heard about from our trip leader, somewhat to the surprise of our local guide. One of our favorites was the Weka, a brown flightless ground bird that looks like a kiwi with a short bill. Actually it’s the other way around: the Māori name for kiwi is “weka with a beak”. We also got a glimpse of two Rifleman birds, which resemble a colorful cotton ball with a sharp pin for a bill. It is the smallest bird in New Zealand and some bird books say it is extinct on Stewart Island, but we certainly saw two on Ulva!
The trees and ferns on the island are also fascinating, including a fern that reproduces by growing baby plants on its fronds which then drop off to root on the forest floor, and a tree that requires the NZ Wood Pigeon to eat and “process” its seeds for germination. We also saw kiwi burrows, some quite elaborate with over a dozen entrances. You could see which ones were currently in use as the leaf litter had been carefully swept wavy from the main entrance.
Pictured: South Island Saddleback, Hookers Sea Lion (all 900 pounds of him), White-capped Mollymawk (albatross)
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