IBATD Queenstown

Incidental Birding Across the Ditch (IBATD)

Straight after Christmas, my family and I were off across the ditch to the South Island of New Zealand. The holiday was originally planned to involve almost no birding, but I managed to fit it in here and there without too much difficulty ;)

Day 1
Arriving in Queenstown, the first bird I saw was a Masked Lapwing. Not a very interesting first bird. Everything was soaked, due to a very heavy rainfall throughout the South Island, but it had stopped about 2 hours before we arrived.

On to the accommodation, surprisingly right next to the Queenstown Gardens... How convenient! A pair of CHAFFINCHES were the first lifer of the trip, even though they're introduced. My first native bird was next, about 7 NEW-ZEALAND SCAUPS sitting on the lake, along with a familiar face, two Great-crested Grebes. SONG THRUSH and DUNNOCK were ticked quickly, after which I got onto my second native lifer, a BLACK-BILLED GULL, or rather 50 of them scavenging around the jetty. It's always satisfying to tick a pest bird that let's you get within inches of it.

NZ Scaup

Chaffinch

Black-billed Gull