Yellow Nosed Albatross!

On the 30th of September, 1st and 2nd of October a Yellow-nosed albatross was sighted on our tours. This is an uncommon visitor to this area and as such was a great chance to get a close look at an unusual species! Some great shots were taken by our skippers and customers on board.

Tui de Roy and Mark Jones presentation September 25th

Hi all

On Thursday the 25th of Septmber wildlife photographers and authors Tui de Roy and Mark jones are giving a presentation on their adventures and passion exploring the world of albatross. Their action packed project culminted in the writing of their beautirully illustrated book: Albatross: Their world their ways.

The presentation begins at 7pm at the Kaikoura Memorial Hall supper rooms, no entry fee, light refreshments available.

Hope to see you then, it will prove to be a very interesting evening.

Cheers

Alex

Spring is here!

The arrival of spring has also seen the arrival of large numbers of Kaikoura's special seabird, the endemic Huttons shearwater (Puffinus huttoni). They have returned from their winter holiday off the coast of Australia, and are waiting for the snow to clear off their alpine nesting sites in the Seaward Kaikoura mountains behind the township of Kaikoura. They can sometimes be seen in their thousands over the spring and summer as they feed in the rich waters of Kaikoura.

Black Shag

Howdy all

We had our first tour out this morning after the very rough seas at the end of last week. The sea was still a bit lumpy this morning but more than calm enough for Gary to handle with keen birders. It proved well worth going this morning as we saw a black shag, we are lucky if we see this species more than once a year, so a very successful tour. We are hoping the strong winds of the weekend have blown even more unusual species our way and we are looking forward to seeing what is around over the next week or so (especially when we head offshore on Saturday).

We will keep you posted....

Explorer Tour Rescheduled to the 2nd August

Hi all

Strong southerly winds have been battering the Kaikoura coast for the last couple of days and they are forecast to continue well into Sunday (the 27th July) so we have decided to reschedule our all day Explorer Tour for next weekend (Saturday the 2nd August).
Hopefully the strong southerlies will blow some interesting species our way for next weekend!

(Here are some pictures of the sea taken from South Bay and the seal colony at Kaikoura)

Hope to see you then

Alex

Grey Petrel

Hello All

On Friday the 4th of July we were out with a film crew who were filming albatross here in Kaikoura, both in flight and they got some good underwater footage of the albatross feeding, and we spotted a pretty rare visitor..

It was NW wind conditions and we were only 8 miles offshore, we had huge numbers of southern royal albatross and black browed and Buller's when we spotted a grey petrel. This was an exciting spot as it is not a species we see here very often and surprising that we did not have to go very far offshore to see it.

It is going to be very interesting to see what species are going to be around when we run our offshore 'Explorer Tour' this saturday especially as we are headed quite a bit further offshore,
See you then.........

Gazza

Fiordland-crested Penguin rescued by concerned family

Hi all

On the 10th of July we had a family from Australia drop by and they told us they had found an injured penguin on the beach just north of Kaikoura. They brought the penguin in wrapped in a towel and we duely reported it to DOC who sent an officer (Paul Mccahon) who collected it. Paul has since updated us and confirmed that it is a Fiordland-crested penguin and it is very weak and dehydrated but still pretty fiesty and he thinks it has a good chance of making it back to full health.

A very rare visitor to Kaikoura and due to their low numbers we will be hoping that this individual makes a full recovery, we will keep you posted.