Amber's Blog: Westland District - Fiordland crested penguins

Westland District - Fiordland crested penguins/ Tawaki

Munro beach at sunset.

Over the labour day weekend Mike and traveled to the west-coast of the south island in search of Fiordland crested penguin/ Tawaki.

The shyest of the three mainland breeding penguin species, the Fiordland crested penguin, can be viewed during breeding season (July to November) at a place called Munro Beach near Haast. While there are an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 breeding pairs throughout the breeding range, their numbers have been declining since the 1950s. Introduced predators, warming ocean temperatures and anthropogenic disturbances to nesting sites are the main threats to the population.

From the car park, it takes about 40 minutes to walk to Munro Beach. The trail is easy and nicely maintained. Along the way we heard and saw many birds including, gray warbler, fantail, kereru, shining cuckoo, bellbird and tui. The forest is very lush, typical of the native temperature rainforests found on the west-coast.

Towering silver fern.

Bryophytes are plentiful in the lush forest of Westland.

The penguins can be viewed from a distance as they travel between their upland nests and the ocean shore. To get the most out of your penguin viewing I recommend bringing along a good pair of binoculars and a decent bug spray because the sand flies are vicious lil' buggers.

Fiordland crested penguins can be viewed at Munro Beach.

On our way to Jackson Bay I saw my lifer Black Shag. We did the Wharekai - Te Kou walk, which is about 20 minutes down to the rocky shore at Ocean Beach. We spotted more Fiordland crested penguins nesting along the rugged shoreline as well as my lifer reef heron.