This guided tour, leaving from Auckland and ending in Christchurch, will visit some of New Zealand’s premier birding hotspots. During the 21-day trip, we aim to visit such places as Tiritiri Matangi, Miranda, the Central Plateau and Pureora Forest, Manawatu Estuary, Kaikoura, the South Island West Coast and Glaciers, Milford Sound, Central Otago, and Stewart Island.

New Zealand is simply a stunning country, with so many unique species of birds. We will be aiming to see members of the five New Zealand endemic families - kiwi, NZ parrots, NZ wrens, NZ wattlebirds, and the stitchbird. However, this is the tip of the avian iceberg, with so many other unique species. How about wrybill - our name sake - the only species in the World to have a laterally curved beak, the New Zealand pigeon - the World's largest, or the New Zealand storm-petrel - thought to be extinct until we rediscovered it during a pelagic in January 2003! Birding in New Zealand is an amazing experience, and seeing it with us will make it even more special. Although birds are our passion, New Zealand has a lot to offer in the way of scenery, history, and other wildlife (such as marine mammals). We will be sharing as much of this with you as well.

As well as visiting many of the premier land-based birding spots, we will undertake several pelagic birding trips at various ports around the country - Hauraki Gulf, Whitianga, Kaikoura, and Stewart Island.

Time of year?

New Zealand birding differs very much to Northern Hemisphere birding, where in late summer birding can be difficult, with post-breeding passerines being skulky and difficult to find. In New Zealand we do not see the same seasonal changes. Although birds are not singing as much and are not in full breeding mode, they are just as reliably found in late summer. The weather in late summer is also generally more settled.

What can you expect to see?

Our 21-day tour boasts a species list of 155+ species on most trips, including around 65 endemic breeding species and 25-30 tubenose species. The following stats give an idea of our success rates over the past 7 years for finding the important (mostly endemic) species (note that list does not include all endemics seen during our tours). The record for our trips is 168 species, which has been achieved by both Brent and Sav.

100% Success : Southern brown kiwi, yellow-eyed penguin, NZ grebe, Buller's & Hutton's shearwater, black, Westland, Cook's & Pycroft’s petrel, Stewart Island, King & spotted shag, paradise shelduck, blue duck, NZ scaup, NZ falcon, weka, takahe, South Island & Variable oystercatcher, black stilt, NZ plover, banded dotterel, wrybill, red-billed gull & black-billed gull, white-fronted, fairy & black-fronted tern, NZ pigeon, kaka, kea, red-crowned parakeet, yellow-crowned parakeet, long-tailed cuckoo, morepork, rifleman, NZ pipit, fernbird, tomtit (both species), NZ robin (both species), whitehead, brown creeper, grey gerygone, stitchbird, bellbird, tui, kokako, saddleback (both species).

Less than 100% success:
Northern brown kiwi - 85% seen, but heard on the nights it was not seen
Little spotted kiwi - 80% seen, but heard on the nights it was not seen
Okarito brown kiwi - 85% seen, but heard on the nights it was not seen
Great spotted kiwi - seen on ONE tour, and heard 100% (when tried for)
New Zealand storm-petrel - missed on 1 tour, plus 1 trip cancelled due to weather
Pycroft's petrel - seen 100% out of Whitianga. Not usually seen in Hauraki Gulf
Australasian bittern - 90%
Fiordland crested penguin - 100% October - January. Sometimes found after January
Rock wren - missed on ONE tour
Yellowhead - 95%+ missed on ONE tour

A detailed itinerary is available upon request, please email us to express your interest. Or perhaps you like the look of this tour but would like to change dates or make adjustments to the schedule, we are more than happy to make such changes, where possible, upon request.

This guided tour visits one of the most isolated and infrequently birded parts of New Zealand. The Chatham Islands are home to twelve endemic bird species and a host of endemic subspecies. As well as the high degree of endemism there is the possibility of seeing a wide range of seabird species and getting a real taste of this unique and beautiful Island group during this tour. Don't miss out on this rare opportunity to visit and bird the Chatham Islands! In 2011 the tour had a MAGENTA PETREL fly around the boat on dusk giving fantastic views. We believe this is THE first trip out of the Chathams that has ever managed to see this species on a one-day pelagic.

Being situated at 44 degrees South in the middle of the Southern Ocean, our schedule will very much be dictated by the weather. However, we are currently planning to arrive the afternoon of Day One and have a chance to settle into our accomodations quickly and get out and explore locally in the afternoon. It will be almost impossible to not see our first island endemic whilst doing so. Over the next 5-full days on the Islands we plan to do 2-3 pelagics (inc a chance to see some of the offshore land endemics such as shore plover and Forbe's parakeet), visit the Pyramid (only breeding site for the Chatham albatross), a visit to Pitt Island to see several endemic sub-species including Chatham Island tomtit and Chatham Island tui (if we haven't already seen them on the Mainland), and visiting various sites around Main Chatham. Full details are available on request.

Expected endemic species ( # sub-species) -

Chatham albatross
Common diving petrel #
Chatham Island blue penguin #
Chatham Island shag
Pitt Island shag
Chatham Island oystercatcher
New Zealand shore plover
Red-billed gull #
Parea (Chatham Island pigeon)
Chatham Island red-crowned parakeet #
Forbe's parakeet
Chatham Island pipit #
Chatham Island warbler
Chatham Island fantail #
Chatham Island tomtit #
Chatham Island tui #