Around Wellington
View along the coast just near Kapiti
Kapiti Island
Kapiti is a wildlife reserve that holds many native species of birds that can't persist on the mainland because of all the invasive species. You can only visit on a day trip, but even a few hours is sufficient to at least see kea, takahe, NZ robin, saddle, stitchbird, and saddleback. We were also incredibly lucky to hear a kokako.
Trust field assistant Nat Taylor and a kaka.
He was kind enough to share his peanut butter sandwich with the kea after this photo.
Two psuedotough guys
The marvelous John Flux. Nat, John and I took a wonderful hike through some elfin forest. Meg, John's wife, had packed us lunch and made lemonbars, as to her that was an American desert. It was first time I had eaten them in decades. They were dang tasty.
Elfin forest
On top of the hill
A few additional field site shots....
This is a sad day for lambikins. This is tail docking day and for those male lambs that aren't heading for slaughter, it is rubberbands on the nuts days
Shepherding a few of our charges around the bunkers
The view from the box. When conditions get grim, sometimes, one nestling will make the death march to the hole in hopes of getting whatever the parents might be bringing.
The view from the Interislander back towards Wellington. I made the trip from Wellington across the Cook Strait to Picton on the South Island 5 times. Four of them were wonderful calmish journeys with great bird sightings, including a southern giant-petrel (a Nellie) floating off the back. However, one was a chum-inducing vomit fest. Pretty grim!

To the next New Zealand page