Greetings from a wet New Zealand.

[sunbird]

Hi there! I'm an ornithology PhD student in New Zealand who'll be winding my way past UAE later this year, so I thought I'd say hello. So, hello!

[Sandman]

Hello back to you sunbird & welcome to us.
I'll be doing Kaikoura, Arthur's Pass, northern North Island, Tiri & Haikura Gulf Oct 9-17. Looking forward to it!

[sunbird]

Hello back to you sunbird & welcome to us.
I'll be doing Kaikoura, Arthur's Pass, northern North Island, Tiri & Haikura Gulf Oct 9-17. Looking forward to it!
I'd love to show you around but you seem to be avoiding Kapiti/Karori! How will you get Little Spotted Kiwi if not here?

Perhaps I'll head down to Kaikoura to say hello, I love that place. Who wouldn't, with so many albatrosses! Good luck with the Blue Ducks and Orange-fronted Parakeets in Arthur's Pass, and with the Kokako at Tiri Tiri. I dipped the Kokako there, but I hear reliably it is the best place to get them (I finally got mine in Kapiti on my last visit). That said, you won't fail to get good stuff there, and it is a great pace for photography. Be sure to avoid the provided tours, and check out the shore paths immediately to the left as you get off the boat, the nesting boxes have lids you can lift off and under the glass inspect nesting Blue Penguins (I visited in early November and saw them).

Another good thing up north is to dive the Poor Knights. The diving spot is consistently rated top ten in the world, and while you're resting between dives you can watch Fairy Prions and Buller's Shearwaters - this being the only place where Buller's Shearwaters nest in the world. The site also has the occasional Grey Noddy, and Common Diving Petrels.

Feel free to ping me if you have any specific questions - if I don't know I sure as hell know someone that does! My Flickr account has lots of shots from Tiri, Kapiti and Kaikura. http://www.flickr.com/photos/angrysunbird/