spectacular! The West Coast has experienced some of the best weather the country has seen this summer – beautiful hot sunny days and star filled nights.  The local campground has been humming along with happy campers enjoying life at the beach.  We’ve had visitors on the boat tours from around the world, lots of New Zealanders discovering their own country and exploring “off the beaten track”, and visitors from The Netherlands, Germany, UK, Scotland, France and Canada and the USA.

We’ve had some outstanding bird sightings on the lagoon with the white herons, royal spoonbills, godwits, south island pied oyster catchers, dotterals, pied stilts and more.  It’s been a great year for the terns, both Caspian and white fronted terns.  Swade caught this one on camera drifting past on a morning trip – just posing for him! 

Although we have been predominantly viewing herons on the lagoon feeding, this one has found it’s favorite perch in the rainforest and we often see it here.  The colour contrast is amazing with the clear blue skies, rainforest and the incredible white of the herons feathers.

And of course, the early risers are always in for a treat.  We are happy to do early morning departures on request which are often for keen birders, or photographers.  This one was for a photographer who really lucked out with dramatic morning colours – Swade took this from the Wharf where the tours depart at about 6:30 AM – beautiful!

Being small operators, we rarely take time away during these busier summer months, but having a boat has its advantages!  The other night we headed off up the northwest side of the lagoon to the secluded North Beach of Okarito and camped out for the night.  After a meal cooked over the coals of a fire (salmon, grilled vegies and couscous and corn on the cob – yum!), we watched the sky fill with stars and saw the Southern Cross and Orion. 

Early morning we headed back in time for breakfast and to meet our 9 AM guests.  With slightly overcast skies, Mount Cook and Tasman rose up above the clouds and it was another stunningly beautiful morning on Okarito Lagoon.

Okarito Lagoon has had very high water levels due to the heavy rainfalls received last week.  Lake Mapourika near Franz Josef Glacier flows into the Okarito River.  On our two hour nature tours you travel up this river into the rainforest.  It is also the main outflow of the lagoon, carving a deep channel through the lagoon on its way out to the Tasman Sea.  Although this channel is quite deep during all tides, roughly 2-4 metres deep, it is quite narrow.  To each side of this channel is where we see many of the wader birds feeding, particularly at low-mid tides,  such as the Kotuku, or Great White Heron, the Royal Spoonbills and smaller waders, such as godwits, oyster catchers and banded dotterels.   

These birds all require shallow waters for feeding and the condition of Okarito Lagoon can have a significant effect on the success of breeding birds.  The Kotuku rely heavily on the food source from Okarito.  Although earlier in the week we were seeing herons, they were mostly from a distance, or perched in trees in the rainforest. Yesterday’s trip rewarded us with a dozen or so feeding once again on the lagoon. The waters are now receding as the flow from the Okarito River has finally slowed. 

Kotuku - Great white Heron at Okarito Lagoon

The Paradise shelducks seem to be loving the weather, and one of our local pairs brought their 5 young out from the nest for a look about.   There are two pairs who have called the village home for a number of years and are quite used to people.  You can get great photo opportunities of them! The female, uncharacteristically more flamboyant than the male, is chestnut coloured with a white head.  The male is dark grey and black.  The young all look like males as they gain their feathers, then the females will gradually acquire white feathers around their heads and turn chestnut.   

Summer is unfolding in the rainforest with the first of the Rata flowers beginning to bloom. In a predominantly green forest, these flowers make for a delightful splash of colour.  Also flowering profusely is the native jasmine.  The manuka is continuing to come out slowly with it’s small white flowers, and the flax is providing a great source of nectar for the Tui’s and Bellbirds.

You have great opportunities to see all these birds and native plants in the rainforest on our two hour Nature Tours which run daily at 9 and 11:30 am. 

We look forward to your company on board in Okarito soon!

You can experience a real variety of bird life at Okarito now as the Kotuku (Great White Heron) are in the middle of their breeding season at the nearby Waitangiroto Sanctuary.  The herons nest alongside the Royal Spoonbills and little shags which are all common feeders on the Lagoon, especially at mid-low tide.

On a good day right now you can see flocks of the legendary Eastern Bar Tailed Godwits, from 30 to over 100.  These amazing birds migrate from Alaska to New Zealand, having the longest non-stop migratory flight of any bird.  They arrived in Okarito in September and one couple who braved the elements with us on a rainy and windy day were thrilled to see the first flock arrive and land on the nearby tidal flats.  These birds are now busy feeding to put on the approximate 1/3rd of their lost body weight from their long flight. 

A couple of unusual bird sightings were made in Okarito this past week – a pair of lesser knots were comfortable feeding on the tidal flats and two unconfirmed sightings of a Nankeen Night Heron were reported.  There have been very few sightings ever of this Heron in New Zealand.  We’ll let you know if we get a confirmed report!

On an early morning trip last week (7:45-8:45 am – unscheduled trips can be made by advance booking – contact us!) a couple from the USA were rewarded for their early start with great sightings of three Australasian Bitterns!

The Kereru, or Native Wood Pigeon, have been putting on great shows up in the rainforest and the Tui’s are in good numbers right now too.  The native flax and cabbage trees are just starting to flower in Okarito and these plants provide a tremendous food source for the Tui’s and Bellbirds.  You can often watch them feeding as we cruise up the Okarito River into the rainforest on the 2 hour Nature Tour.

Manuka, also knownn as tea tree and for its honey and oils, is just coming into flower and the Kamahi, with its mini pink bottle brush flower has been in full bloom this past week.

After a good bout of West Coast rain these last few days, we are back to enjoying some warmth and sunshine here at the beach and Okarito Lagoon and hope you can come and join us soon!