Beaut sunny day, and although Labour Day here in NZ, and therefore a Public holiday, there was still work to be done (and based on today's rubbish weather lucky I did get out). Needed to finish off the bird counts at Cape Kidnappers and Ocean Beach Wildlife Preserve where I do five-minute bird counts twice a year (Spring and Autumn). Takes two days to complete the counts, and managed to get a day done last Thursday. Headed out early and Adel and I used the quad-bike to get around the various sites. The morning was a spectacular Spring day with almost no wind and clear blue skies, altough a little cool still, with a light breeze coming up in the afternoon. Things in the Preserve seem to be doing really well, with robin and tomit (recently reintroduced) doing very well, brown teal producing ducklings all over the place, and general bird numbers flourishing. It was great to see and hear quite a number of the whitehead I helped to catch and release into the Preserve in 2008, during the two days, and they seem to be doing pretty well with a number of unbanded birds fledged from last breeding season seen.

At the end of the day on the way out I spotted a pair of spur-winged plovers (masked lapwings) with three very young chicks. Managed to squeeze off a few nice shots of the adults and chicks. The chicks really were pretty cute already showing the little 'mask' starting to develop, and they were quite independent even at this age feeding for themselves. Then found a small covey of California quail just by the main road outside the Preserve and watched them for sometime as they feed on stinging nettle seeds (they can keep that up!) and then dust bathing. A real surprise was a stoat running across the road and hiding under the car - I'm not sure where it went but it seemed to be on a mission and had the quail on alert for a few minutes! Too fast for the camera though!

Arrived into Auckland just on 11am and headed across to the domestic terminal. Checked my luggage in and then decided that this Franklin's gull was worth a shot! The bird had been initially found by Ian Southey and others on 5 September at Kidd's on the Manukau Harbour, but flew off and was not seen again - see the thread on BirdingNZ.net). However it was then refound by Phil Hammond and Simon Fordham at Bruce Pulman Park on 18 September and had been showing well ever since...mostly anyway. I headed out to the taxi rank, figuring that a taxi and hire car would not be far off the same money, and a taxi would be a lot easier and faster...I reckon I was right. I was back at the domestic terminal in around an hour, having spent about ten minutes with the bird and managing around 100 photos!

The taxi driver must have thought I was a little strange (most people do I guess), when I got in the car after negotiations and told him I wanted to see a bird...yes a gull from the America's that has managed to get all the way to New Zealand! Anyway, he seemed to warm to the idea and when we got to Bruce Pulman Park at 1235 I stepped out of the car to see the bird fly across the small pond towards us....even the taxi driver saw it! Probably about the easiest twitch I've ever done! Spent about 10 minutes with the bird taking photos as it landed near a small island on the pond, preened a little and then flew a circuit of the ponds before relanding back in the same spot. Pretty cool and happy I got this one after the failed mission from Palmerston North to Dunedin in July 2002 (see trip report here).

Uneventful flight from Auckland to Napier...but man what a lot of snow on the hills inland of Napier after a major dumping a few days before...very unseasonal snow!

Arrived in Easter Island late on the 30 September (after a couple of rough days at sea) and went ashore to work out the landing site with LJ, Mike, etc. There is no wharf or harbour to go alongside here in Easter Island so we anchored off the main town of Hanga Roa and were able to then transfer passengers, luggage, and stores via zodiac. On 1 Oct we awoke to a brilliant blue sky (after rain and rough conditions during the three days prior, and headed ashore to do tours of the island. Despite the fact that Easter Island used to have 5 species of landbirds - probably all endemic - none survived through to recent times, with the only landbirds currently found all being introduced. It didn't take long to spot the first house sparrow from the zodiac, and common diuca-finch followed shortly after before leaving the wharf area. The island is pretty small, with largely gently undulating open grassland, but some stands of trees, mainly introduced eucalypts. Chimango caracara were very common and feral pigeons were spotted from the bus as we drove, but the final landbird evaded attention until the following day - Chilean tinamou.

On our tour we visited the only sandy beach on the Island - Ana Kena - then the spectacular Tongariki - with 15 Moai lined up along the shore. We then visted the quarry site - Rano Raraku - where almost all the Moai were carved from, and many still stand around the grassy slopes. The largest Moai ever to be carved (21m tall and estimated to weigh approximately 160-180 m tons - the largest to be erected was 'Paro' which is almost 10m and weighs approx 82 m tons) still lies in the quarry connected to the volcanic rock and unfinished. Red-tailed tropicbirds were obviously nesting around the cliffs of the quarry, doing display flights and landing on the upper cliffs. It was then to several other sites along the coast, followed by lunch (mmmmm....pisco sours!) and then the Moai at Akapu right near Hanga Roa, before a visit to the museum.

2 October we then visited Orongo in the south-west corner of the island, spotting the first Chilean tinamou of the day on the way. At Orongo petroglyphs have been carved into the rocks over-looking Motu-nui and Motu-iti - the "Bird Islands". The scenic crater of the volcano Rana Kao made for some nice pictures, and we then headed back into town to the Artisans market before lunch at Ana Kena. Lovely spot for some lunch amongst the coconut palms, and some even swam in the lovely clear, but slightly cooler waters. After lunch we visited the seven Moai at Akivi - the only ones to face the sea, all others have their backs to the sea. I snuck off after flushing a tinamou in some long grass, and hearing others nearby managed to get some reasonable photos. Strange little birds, a little bit like a cross between a grouse and a kiwi, which in some ways I guess they are being related to kiwi in that they are ratites (the only members of the family Struthioniformes to fly). Later we then visited Puna Pau, the quarry where the red scoria topknots sometimes fitted to the Moai were quarried before heading back to the ship in the late afternoon.

On 3 October we were up early to start disembarkation. Joy of joys, somebody at the office had forgotten to book my flight from Easter Island to Santiago...making it a little diificult to make my flight from Santiago back to Tahiti...luckily I was to be passing though Easter Island as part of that flight. So an hour and a half of mucking around had me able to change my flight at the Lan Chile office, flying out of Easter Island on 4 Oct direct to Tahiti, but meaning I would miss pisco sours and an overnight in Santiago! Boo hoo...it did mean I got to spend another day and a half on Easter Island though, and I got to hang out with Doug Allan and spend some time photographing more of the sights. We had a great afternoon on the 3rd, with some lovely blue skies and then a nice sunset, where we photographed the Moai at Akapu with the setting sun behind them, and then the following morning up at 5am and photographing the sunrise at Tongariki. Absolutely stunning sunrise with intense colours and moody skies, but unfortunately a pretty grey day followed, with rain in the afternoon. I must have really done something to upset the Gods though as my flight that night from Easter Island to Tahiti was delayed three hours, meaning no point in checking in to my hotel in Tahiti, before then flying onwards to Auckland...