Zealandia - City Sanctuary + Beautiful Place

A flock of screeching Kaka raced across the skies as I descended down the track, hoping for at least distant views of nesting shags. Now at the bottom of the track, two beautiful takahes walked across me and started feeding, pausing me on my way to the shags. But soon it was back to my beloved shags. I was in luck, many pied shag pairs were constructing a nest while others were incubating their eggs.

I was captivated by their direct flight and noble stature. Well, at least when they weren’t squabbling, that just cracked me up! Soon it was back onto the beautiful tracks. Birds abounded, and within 30 minutes I already had the privilege of seeing a feeding saddleback, an inquisitive bellbird, and lots of kaka! It was not long when we encountered a feeder that was populated by large amounts of kaka and a very tame tui. Surprisingly, I went straight into trying to capture a feather texture of the very tame tui and when the sun shines on his feathers they are truly beautiful.

And after photographing some of the charismatic locals, I was off again. 

Off to the upper dam bridge. Summed up, there wasn’t much to see at the upper dam, but I managed.

Soon after, me and my dad wandered around the discovery area, which I highly recommend you should walk, as it probably was the best spot for birds in Zealandia. I finally spotted some kakariki here (they seemed to elude me the whole time) but unfortunately my dad wasn’t there to see them. As well as kakariki there were plenty of NI Robin which most of the time came too close to focus. Never mind, it was a great experience anyway.

And, for the second time at Zealandia I had the privilege of spending time with a cooperative saddleback.

Eventually, the long expected rain came, sending us on our way back, but not without meeting another local first.