Last Post from New Zealand

I promise no pictures of snow-capped mountains here.

Dunedin (pronounced done-eedin) is a medium-sized city in the south-east of the south island.  It is known for its world class university and the bird life that lives nearby.

The Royal Albatross is the largest of the albatross with a wingspan of 3 meters.  It breeds on the hills above the sea just outside Dunedin.  We got to see two.  These are juveniles.  They were pretty far away.

The Red Billed Gull is a super cute bird that seems to be everywhere; however, they are becoming more endangered than the albatross.  I love the red eyeliner and polka dot tail.

Shags are sea birds that don’t have oil in their feathers.  There is a big colony of them just below where the albatross nest.

The Masked Lapwing is actually from Australia but is now quite at home in NZ.

You may remember photos of a similar bird from the Galapagos.  This is Oyster Catcher.

The Pukeko is all over this beautiful country, often seen on the side of the road.  Sometimes in it.

The Paradise Duck has been one of my favorite birds here.  I have only seen it on the South Island.  The female has the white head.  The male is much more impressive in flight.  They are always seen in pairs.

Stilts are always fun to see.  I am pretty sure they got thier name because of their legs.

All of these are wonderful, but it is PENGUINS that are the area’s most famous birds.

The PENGUIN PLACE is a private sanctuary run by the family that owns the land the penguins have decided to call home.  They have worked to restore the area near the beach to bush land that will shelter them.  Two penguin species live here.  This is the beach where the penguins come ashore.

The Little Blue Penguin, Korora in Maori, is the smallest of all penguins.  They only reach 30cm in height.  Generally, they live in underground burrows, but the good people of the Penguin Place have built shelters for them.

The Yellow Eyed Penguin is one of the rarest in the world, and one of the most threatened.  They are also very shy and do not live in colonies.  Again, we saw them from far, far away.

Our penguin was very happy at the end of the visit.

Our next stop is Japan.  This will be my first time to Asia and first place on this trip where I do not speak the language.  Things will start getting very interesting.  Stay tuned.