Blue Duck and other Arthur's Pass birds

[David Riddell]

Just back from a couple of days at Arthur's Pass. The birding highlight was a blue duck, just below the highway at Pegleg Creek. The creek is the first stream entering from the right hand side as you head down from the pass; there's a good area at the downhill end where you can pull off the road. According to the ranger the ducks are often there, though their territory extends round the bend and up the hill into the upper Otira River. He also said there had been reports of rock wren in the same area, although it's not at all typical habitat, and we didn't see any despite having a reasonably good look around.

Rock wren have been seen recently in the upper Otira Valley beyond the bridge apparently, but we were warned away from there because of the avalanche risk (no recent sightings at Temple Basin, sadly). Decided to have a walk up the Hawdon River instead, although it seems it was a bit early in the season for the birds to be very conspicuous. We followed the pest control track along the true right bank, and enjoyed reading the reports of orange-fronted parakeet sightings which various observers had written on pink marker tape, but all the time we were there we heard two brief snatches of chatter and saw no parakeets of any hue. Good numbers of riflemen and brown creeper (one of the parakeets we heard was near a brown creeper flock) and a few robins. A bonus was a small flock of black-fronted terns fishing over the Waimakariri River right beside the road at the end of the day.

Also found a pair of crested grebe at Lake Pearson, and one of our party (not me) heard great spotted kiwi near the railway station at Arthurs Pass village.

[andrewcrossland]

its great to know the Blue Ducks are still around the Otira R/Pegleg Creek confluence - there were 2-3 pairs in that area prior to the construction of the viaduct, then they seemed to disappear. So very good to hear they are still there (or have reoccupied that stretch of the Otira R).
The other bird to look for there - and indeed the closest population to Canty that I know of - are Fernbird, which inhabit the hebe and other scrub along the Otira River.