07 Apr 2015

Birds of the Hauraki Gulf

A beautiful sunrise and calm conditions greeted us this morning as we rose early to catch good sightings of the Grey Ternlets that nest on the Mokohine Islands in the Hauraki Gulf. After three loops of Maori Rock we moved on out to the 200m depth contour to look for the elusive New Zealand Storm Petrel. By midday we had close sightings of several of these, along with large groups of Gannets, Fluttering Shearwaters and Bullers Shearwaters. A great start to this epic birding expedition!