Tiritiri Matangi - Part 1
At 9:00 AM on October 1st, I began one of the greatest birding experiences of my life. Three nights on Tiritiri Matangi Island, a pest-free island off the coast of Auckland, would be a dream come true for most birders, allowing them to see incredible numbers of some of New Zealand’s rarest and most charismatic endemic species.
Accompanied by seven other avid birders and nature lovers, I spent the next four days trying to see as many bird, plant, insect, and reptile species as I possibly could. This meant early mornings trying to find the impossibly small Titipounamu (Rifleman), and late nights listening for the haunting calls of kiwis, hoping that one would cross our track. While this may seem like a daunting task, for the eight of us on the island it was paradise.
Almost immediately after stepping off the ferry, I picked up the ghostly song of a North Island Kokako, an incredible New Zealand endemic that was one of my biggest targets for the trip. Kokako became a sort of mascot of our adventures on Tiritiri as we had unbelievable luck with this species over the four days on the island. We spent the next half an hour slowly making our way up to the bunkhouse watching Tūī and Korimako (New Zealand Bellbird) fight over nectar feeders while the shy Hihi (Stitchbirds) watched from a distance. The songs of dozens of amazing endemic species flooded the forests of Tiritiri Matangi, signaling the start of an amazing adventure.
After a quick lunch at the bunkhouse, we set out on our first major trek of the trip. Our first afternoon of birding started off with a bang as we spotted a lone Takahē feeding right in front of the lighthouse outside our lodging. These adorable, perfectly round birds were once thought to be extinct before being rediscovered on the South Island in 1948. In the 75 years since then, an incredible effort has gone into the repopulation of this species in their natural range. The two pairs of Takahē that reside on Tiritiri have been a major part of that effort, with their offspring being used as part of the repopulation effort.
Our luck certainly did not end with the Takahē. Over the next few hours, we saw nearly a dozen Kākāriki (Red-crowned Parakeets), a family of Pāteke (Brown Teal), and several impressive Kerurū (New Zealand Pigeons).
These New Zealand endemics, amazing in their own right, paled in comparison to what was one of the most amazing birding experiences of my life. I was deep in conversation with one of the other birders on the trip when I noticed a flash of brown out of the corner of my eye. I quickly looked down at the flax by my feet and saw a small, scruffy bird staring back at me. "Holy f***ing s**t" was my immediate reaction. It was a Mātātā (New Zealand Fernbird). While not incredibly rare, these birds are famous for being cryptic and elusive, not showing their faces to even the luckiest of birders. While losing our minds over this amazing sighting, ANOTHER Mātātā called from a nearby bush. We spent well over fifteen minutes trying to photograph one of these elusive birds to no avail, with my best picture being a blurry mess that could barely be called a bird. I was feeling a mix of emotions, from elation to frustration and everything in between. But I knew it was time to move on. Right before I opened my mouth to suggest we move on, TWO MORE Mātātā flew just inches from my leg, providing better views than I ever thought I would get of one of NZ’s most enigmatic species.
Such an amazing experience within hours of landing on Tiritiri Matangi just made me even more excited about the upcoming days of birding, botanizing, and herping that followed, and I was not disappointed.