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Royal Shags and Tricky Parakeets: Birding Queen Charlotte Sound

10,000 Birds

I went out with the morning sunrise tour and then came back with the wildlife tour in the afternoon, something they are prepared to do for birders who want to spend time on Blumine Island (if both tours are going anyway). New Zealand Fur-seals are the most common pinniped found in New Zealand. Spotted Shags are endemic to New Zealand.

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Seabirding off Cape Point

10,000 Birds

Birding has been an all-consuming interest for Patrick Cardwell since boyhood days spent in a wildlife-rich environment.

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Sperm Whales in Kaikoura

10,000 Birds

What put this once small fishing town on the map was not birds but mammals, specifically whales and dolphins. As we shot out into the ocean we received a lecture on the Kaikoura Canyon, its wildlife and the Sperm Whale from Hayley, a local girl who was our guide. For a hardcore birder the trip might have been a touch disappointing.

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