Auckland Public Transit Big Day

General birdwatching discussion, help with bird identification, and all other things relating to wild birds and birding in NZ that don't fit in one of the other forums.
paradoxdinokipi
Posts: 132
Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2022 8:51 pm
Location: Currently in Australia for university :)

Auckland Public Transit Big Day

Postby paradoxdinokipi » Thu Jan 16, 2025 6:18 pm

Pretty last post considering it's been 2 weeks since I've done it, but better late than never! Hopefully me creating a new topic for this could get the ball rolling and inspire others to do a PT Big Day in Auckland (or at least a Big Day in Auckland..). I feel there's a lot of improvements possible from my day tally so that at the very least a 75+ could potentially be manageable, but I had started my New Year/Big Day with only one real goal in mind, see a Kiwi as my first bird of the year and of course I'd try for as big of a number as possible but mainly just wanted to string in both really nice bush birds and Mangere in one day together and see how high of a tally I could run up.

To get a Kiwi on the first day, yet also be cheap and actually bus around places in time, I decided rather than Tiritiri Matangi (which not only would I had to have pre-booked like months in advance, but also because of how, understandably, late the ferry would leave), that I'd overnight at Shakespear Ecosanctuary on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula to start off my year and Big Day instead. I'd argue that starting off at your birding location is still fine for a Big Day run/public transit run as I had bussed all the way up to Shakespear the evening prior in preparation for it.
Thus getting up at around 2AM in the morning and setting up a UV light for moths, I instantly heard a Ruru/Morepork and Little-Spotted Kiwi sound off at the the same time on the Waterfall Gully track, (although the Ruru may've called a second earlier!). Thankfully Little-Spotted Kiwi did end up being my first seen bird with one feeding right next to me a mere seconds after walking about! Didn't try photographing it and moved on, hearing Pukeko and spending a good bit of time scrambling up a hill searching for Rurus (I must've been right underneath them with how loud they were, but couldn't manage an angle and had my view near completely obscured by a thick canopy of tree-ferns). Eventually a few more loops yielded calling Masked Lapwings, as well as seen Ruru/Morepork and Pateke/Brown Teal. Checked on my moth trap after and tried to get some sleep, managed maybe a bit less than an hour before it started getting noisy with people so I got up to start birding again. Of course being in pest-free bush at dawn like in Shakespear is just a wonderful thing, for this forum I'll keep it brief so scroll down to see the Shakespear list, nearly all birds were seen just doing repeated loops of the Waterfall Gully (up to where it turns open and turning back to the stairs) although the constant Ring-Necked Pheasants and Skylark were heard-onlies for this location [As well as Chaffinch being picked up by a quick Merlin recording at dawn]. Spotless Crake I only heard the 'trilling' call once at the Duck-Pond with Red-fronted Kakariki also only recorded here as a pair flying over, seeing the Dunnock on the track just a mere bit ago felt quite lucky as I completely wasn't expecting it! Aswell as cracking views of multiple pairs of Fernbirds all over. I did give a quick look around Okoromai Bay at 820ish to check for Buff-Banded Rails, walking both the track as well as the road which has a lot of samphire cover and some mangroves but dipped. I'd assume perhaps visiting around here at dawn may've been best as the forest birds weren't all too hard throughout the day. Tieke/Saddleback did actually take me a fair while to see! That along with photographing, something.. meant I already spent quite a bit of time at Shakespear. Rather unfortunate as although I'd like to have spent more time trying for some extra birds that I was unlikely to get elsewhere, a iirc 1pm high tide meant I had to be scrambling for the bus by 10 [hearing Peafowl right outside Shakespear on the way out, unsure if these ones should 'count' although I'm personally rather biased against ticking introduced Peafowl..].
Although starting my day at Shakespear was very nice, having to rush straight to Mangere for the tide I believe made my day more inefficient, as between 10-1pm I simply caught buses all the way down to Mangere, using Google Maps to navigate, aswell as finally adding Starling to the list! Passing by the Kiwi Esplanade on the 38 bus and the massive roost right on the grass I decided to stop here and walk down to Ambury, [instead of my usual route bussing down to Mountain View School and walking up via the Lagoon], the old records of a pair of Curlews here especially compelling this choice. Scanning the flock there were only gulls and oystercatchers being seen, but at least the latter of both species were new for the day list. Walking down Ambury I saw my first Greenfinch, reaching and scanning the shell islands soon after. Spent a while scanning the two islands closest to the hide picking up a few year birds but there wasn't much so I went down to the Main Shell Island, don't remember exactly how long I'd been scanning but near 2pm I got extremely excited over what due to a slightly awkward posture and obscured legs, a Pied Stilt chick that I thought was a Marsh Sandpiper! But after Caiden suggested to me it was just a stilt chick a quick check and realising that the plumage was downy aswell as the legs being actually pinkish led me back to un-ticking Marsh Sandpiper. Yet the waders had started spilling out of the island with the lowering tide, as they came down right in front of the island, I suddenly noted a dark bird up close with the barwits, finally, Whimbrel!! I've struggled with Whimbrels at Ambury a lot ever since being shown my lifer in Stuart Laurenson's scope back during the Broad-Billed Sand frenzy (a hunched brown blob where you could barely make out a crown stripe!), with the entire 23-24 season passing with me frustratingly seeing it distant and blurry only in my camera shots after I'd left. But here the Whimbrel was right in front of me, running around preening and foraging for a good few minutes before the flock all flushed up and to the left due to a VOC... Thus with the waders all gone from that vantage point I had a quick stroll around seeing my first Skylark of the day and not much else before again picking up another vantage point near the culvert as the waders started spilling out to the left. Nothing much caught my eye and the clouds had started to darken a lot more, when at the close end of the shell island 'spit' I immediately noticed a wader that was different, one of the 'sandpiper' jobs that I hadn't seen before at Mangere (so already quite excited for a year and county tick!), I was aware of a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper being reported around, but the instant I got my bins on it seeing obvious dark flecks and the clean sharp transition into white, I knew it had to be a Pecotral Sandpiper!!! I immediately started snapping but only for a few minutes before the clouds overhead fully darkened and unleashed a full squall upon me, and thus on the rocks I laid, shielding my non-sealed camera with my body and only occasionally peeping up with my binocs (now drenched and blurry), where I had a quick view of the Pectoral side by side with another sandpiper, this one appearing a tad smaller with a shorter bill, yet I couldn't make out much more throughout the squall. Luckily after perhaps only a few minutes it subsided and I could once again search and scour the flocks, yet I couldn't relocate the Pec, scoping out a distant sandpiper aswell as a funny looking dotterel on the waters edge (the latter stood out to me as I thought it was standing a bit odd but think it was most likely just an NZ Dotterel), of the sandpiper I could only get a few distant blurry shots, but it was enough to indeed add Sharp-tailed Sandpiper for the year, I lost these birds soon after and due to the tide was lowering quite a bit, I headed off to the WTP/Canal.
Walking down and around onwards to the WTP, I picked up a pair of Ruddy Turnstones and the usual lot of waterfowl and Dabchick when I reached the canal. I walked up to the disused storage basin and seeing a decent aggregation of waders gave it a quick scan, here I picked up Wrybills for the day which I'd been a bit concerned after not seeing them on the mud near the Shell Island aswell as Banded Dotterels alongside them, the latter of which I wasn't really expecting to see on this day so I was quite plussed. Given how many waders were running around it seemed to be quite productive, so I kept scanning, landing on a very thin needle billed, yellow legged bird running around some gulls, seeing it I instantly knew, finally!! My lifer Marsh Sandpiper, after 'stringing' one just a couple hours ago I was really happy to finally land on my lifer, and it was nice to see it actively running around and feeding on the mudflats.
By now it was around 430, on a better planned big day I most likely could've left as there wasn't really too much I could only get at Mangere, with Western Springs having guaranteed Coot, Tahuna Torea being another site for Buff-Banded Rail aswell as both being good for Shining Cuckoo, but I just mulled around instead. At the storage ponds only getting Little Black Shags and Goldfinch, aswell as not even being able to tape in a Yellowhammer... I was hoping that my luck would've continued around the Storage Basin (ie. picking up a Black-Fronted Dotterel or Australasian Grebe), but alas it seemed I'd already used all my luck on waders haha. I did also pick up a drake Mallard for the list, I'm honestly still rather uncertain with how much variation a 'pure' female Mallard can show given the flood of domestic aswell as PBD genes in all the ducks at Mangere, on the topic of the latter I believe I could've properly gotten onto one with a bit more effort, I have a few ducks on my camera that seem like they would pass for a 'pure' PBD/Grey Duck (at least in Aus) but the rampant hybridisation in all the other ducks was extremely clear so still not exactly certain! Attached are 2 birds which I believe to be decent candidates for a 'pure' PBD, please feel free to comment on them.
Screenshot 2025-01-16 at 5.54.46 PM.png
Leaning more hybrid
Screenshot 2025-01-16 at 5.54.46 PM.png (2.87 MiB) Viewed 568 times

Screenshot 2025-01-16 at 5.53.02 PM.png
Likely PBD?
Screenshot 2025-01-16 at 5.53.02 PM.png (2.66 MiB) Viewed 568 times

Unfortunately I couldn't exploit too much of the rest of the day as I had to leave at ~7 to get back to my place before dark, getting nothing else new for the day.

All birds in chronological order (68 or 69 confirmed heard&seen, potentially 70):
    LITTLE SPOTTED KIWI
    Morepork
    Pukeko
    Masked Lapwing
    Pateke/Brown Teal
    --snooze--
    Ring-Necked Pheasant
    Kereru/NZ Pigeon
    Swamp Harrier
    Kotare/Sacred Kingfisher
    Eastern Rosella
    Tui
    Hihi/Stitchbird
    Toutouwai/North-Island Robin
    Silvereye
    Common Myna
    Eurasian Blackbird
    Chaffinch
    Korimako/Bellbird
    California Quail
    Popokotea/Whitehead
    Piwakawaka/NZ Fantail
    NI Tieke/North-Island Saddleback
    NZ Fernbird
    Rock Pigeon
    Australian Magpie
    Eurasian Skylark
    Welcome Swallow
    Spotless Crake
    Red-Crowned Kakariki/Red-Crowned Parakeet
    Riroriro/Grey Gerygone
    Song Thrush
    Dunnock
    White-Faced Heron
    Spotted Dove
    Pied Stilt
    Kelp Gull
    European Greenfinch
    Silver Gull
    *Peafowl* -(if one deems tickable)
    Go to bus & bus 2 hrs...
    House Sparrow
    Starling
    Ambury Regional Park & Mangere WTP:
    Paradise Shelduck
    White-Fronted Tern
    South-Island Pied-Oystercatcher/SIPO
    Variable Oystercatcher/VOC
    Bar-Tailed Godwit
    Black-Billed Gull
    Red Knot
    NZ Dotterel/Red-Breasted Dotterel
    Pied Shag
    Black Swan
    Royal Spoonbill
    Caspian Tern
    Whimbrel
    PECTORAL SANDPIPER
    Sharp-Tailed Sandpiper
    Ruddy Turnstone
    Little Shag
    Canada Goose
    Grey Teal
    Weiweia/NZ Dabchick
    Australasian Shoveler
    NZ Scaup
    Wrybill
    Banded Dotterel
    MARSH SANDPIPER
    Little Black Shag
    European Goldfinch
    Mallard

I believe an Auckland PT Big Day actually has a lot of potential! Especially if one doesn't have to return home aswell, a potential route I had in my head would be similar to mine, except: having more emphasis on the rails at Shakespeare and potentially trying to sneak in a seawatch or something similar, a later Ambury tide so one doesn't have to rush to Ambury and could say, pick up Coot & Cuckoo at Western Springs and potentially most of the waterfowl, followed by Ambury (if lucky solely the waders), and then rushing up for a late ferry to Waiheke to try pick off any extra birds (eg. Kaka & Weka, aswell as any ferry birds).
Although I would've liked to squeeze in an extra spot so my Big Day wasn't just me only visiting 2 sites.. I'm still extremely chuffed with how it went, although I potentially could've tried playback in a Barbary Dove or Yellowhammer which I ended up missing.. It was still a really fun exercise and I'm quite proud of my results. :)
my inat: https://www.inaturalist.org/people/4733175 & ebird account is linked in that profile :)
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Mike Bickerdike
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat Jun 01, 2024 9:33 am
Location: Auckland

Re: Auckland Public Transit Big Day

Postby Mike Bickerdike » Fri Jan 17, 2025 8:00 am

Great write-up, thanks for that. You did very well I think. Starting off with little spotted kiwi is a super way to get off the mark, and the sandpipers kind of make up for missing yellowhammer. There will always be one common bird missed out by random chance I guess.
paradoxdinokipi
Posts: 132
Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2022 8:51 pm
Location: Currently in Australia for university :)

Re: Auckland Public Transit Big Day

Postby paradoxdinokipi » Fri Jan 17, 2025 7:30 pm

Thanks Mike :D
my inat: https://www.inaturalist.org/people/4733175 & ebird account is linked in that profile :)
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RussCannings
Posts: 1242
Joined: Wed Sep 24, 2014 5:23 am

Re: Auckland Public Transit Big Day

Postby RussCannings » Sat Jan 18, 2025 11:16 am

Awesome stuff! Big days are lots of fun and doing it via PT or bike etc adds another level of fun challenge (and obviously other pluses). I tried one in Dunedin back in 2008 and am still gutted I missed kingfisher! Hehe.

Mothing big day next?

Russ

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