Bird-lovers check out these events and location recommendations

Calling all birdwatchers, ornithologists, birders, twitchers and ecologists and photographers that just love the challenge of lining up a bird in their lens.

Did you know
249 bird species have been recorded in Greater Ōtautahi and Banks Peninsula since 1840, which makes us an avian biodiversity hotspot.

Christchurch and Banks Peninsula have a great variety of habitats, but more importantly the area is a central hub for both the annual migrations of birds through the country but also a magnet for annual international migrants and lost strays.

These are some of the hotspots we are hitting this weekend for the City Nature Challenge:

Te Riu-o-Te-Aika-Kawa | Brooklands Lagoon
Join Senior Ranger Robbie Hewson at Brooklands on Friday 26 April 9am
Brooklands lagoon and the extensive wetlands around the Styx River mouth have emerged in the last few years as a perfect site for observing wildlife.

The number of wetland birds have doubled since the quakes from peak numbers of 5000 to more than 10,000. Viewing opportunities are excellent from observation towers and a track that skirts the saltmarshes along the full length of the western shoreline.

You can see birds such as flocks of godwit, pied stilt, banded dotterel and oystercatchers, as well as royal spoonbills, herons, pukeko, grey teal, Australasian shoveler, paradise shelduck and black swan.

The lower Ōtākaro/Avon corridor and Bexley Wetland
Join ecologist Andrew Crossland Monday 29 April at 9am at Bexley
All along the lower Ōtākaro Avon River, including the Bexley Wetlands is a surprisingly diverse bird population including native ducks, wading birds, gulls, terns, cormorants, herons, spoonbills and pukeko.

Most species are easy to see at close quarters, while others such as the shy Australasian bittern, marsh crake and spotless crake are very secretive, staying hidden in amongst the vegetation.

Two other estuarine-focused events are:
Saturday 27 April 10am-12pm Ashley Rakahuri Estuary
Sunday 28 April 1pm-4pm McCormacks Bay

If you prefer a solo mission to capture that perfect bird observation, try

Birdlings Flat for seabirds - lbatrosses and mollymawks, petrels and shearwaters and even brown skuas, Stewart Island shags and adelie penguins have all been observed here.

Kaitorete Spit and Te Waihora Lake Ellesmere together have the highest bird species list for any major wetland habitat in New Zealand, with over 210 species recorded. Best times to see birds is when lake levels are low, exposing mud and cobble shoreline.

Waimakariri River north of Christchurch is a superb area for birdlife with birds like the banded dotterels, wrybills, pied oystercatchers, pied stilts, black-backed gulls, black-billed gulls, black-fronted terns, white-fronted terns, as well as waterfowl and song birds.

Publicerat 24 april 2024 23.31 av smankelow