The 2024 Makarora Nature Camp

Run by the Aspiring Biodiversity Trust.

8th of January:

The first day of the camp was the 8th of January. Before the camp began we had an hour or two of free time. Several of us met at the beginning of the Makarora Nature Walk, where two of our members had been exploring it all day and the day before. The bright afternoon sun glared through the trees. Cicadas chirped loudly. It wasn't the ideal time of day to be birding, but there was still some stuff around. A few Rifleman and Brown Creeper hopped through the trees, and Tui and Bellbird sung in the distance. A Grey Warbler perched nicely for a few seconds before flitting off into the endless vegetation.

It was then time to head back to the lodge to meet with the rest of the participants. We took a tour around the lodges, with a Yellow-crowned Parakeet sitting perfectly on the grass only meters away when the whole group was present. A good start!

After we got settled in, a small group of us headed back to the nature walk. Brown Creeper, Rifleman, and Tomtit were all seen and two Yellow-crowned Parakeet gave even better views than before! We were all happy as we headed back to the lodge.

We walked the Nature Walk another time, with three Parakeet and a Falcon being seen, plus the usual forest bird mix. We then spent the rest of the evening chilling around camp, seeing a large group of 8 Kereru, an adorable and tiny Starling chick, and in total 25 species. We even managed to spot a Black-fronted Tern and a Black-billed Gull flying along the river.

One of the New Zealand Pigeon | Kereru © Ben Ackerley

9th of January:

Day two of the camp started very early. The chorus of Bellbird and Tui filled the moonlit air, and the occasional chattering of Yellow-crowned Parakeet could be heard. We walked down a hill and through some farmland to an area surrounded by bush. Here we set up several large mist nets. While setting them up a Kaka flew over, and flocks of Brown Creepers sang from the trees. Once they were set up it was time to wait. It didn't take long! Soon we caught and banded two Bellbirds, a Grey Warbler, and a Tomtit. We also recaptured another Bellbird which was already banded.

Banding took over 3 hours, so as you can imagine we saw some cool birds. A flock of six Yellow-crowned Parakeet were very curious and constantly landed in the trees next to us. A few Kereru and Kaka flew over, and Rifleman called from the treetops. There were also lots of Tomtit, Tui, Bellbird, Fantail, and Redpoll, and loads of Brown Creepers.

After this a group of us decided to do lots of 5 minute bird counts along the entire nature walk. We came across all the regular species, including stunning views of a Tui. We then looked down on the river and spotted several Black-fronted Tern and a flyover Black Shag!

Later on in the day we headed back to the banding site to try canon netting. We launched the net up into the trees to try to catch larger birds like Kereru, Kaka, and Tui. In the end we didn’t catch any, but it was a great learning experience.

In the afternoon we headed out to Blue Pools. We were hoping to encounter some Yellowhead | Mohua. From the carpark we split into two groups. We walked the loop, with group 1 having great views of 26 Rifleman!! Group 2 only encountered 10, but instead had both Kaka and Kea. Both groups encountered many Kakariki, Brown Creeper, Tomtit, Bellbird, Tui, Grey Warbler, and Fantail.

But the highlight was definitely at the end. While listening to the call of our first Long-tailed Cuckoo we stumbled upon a raspberry patch! The entire car park was surrounded by an abundance of raspberries, and they were all perfectly ripe! We foraged for over an hour before heading back to the lodge, where we found two Kereru awaiting our arrival! Some great shots were taken!

The rest of the afternoon was chilled out, with some interesting talks.

A Rifleman that posed nicely at Blue Pools © Lucy Dean

10th of January:

At the crack of dawn we were back up and out to do some 5 minute bird counts! For this activity we had to really ‘go bush’ as we pushed paths through the foliage. We found many cool birds, including Brown Creeper, Kereru, Yellow-crowned Parakeet, Rifleman, Tui, Bellbird, Tomtit, and more.

We then headed back to the lodge for some preparation for our first Braided River session. A lucky few heard the only Shining Cuckoo recorded over camp at the lodge while preparing. We then met and jumped into the vans, before driving out to the river. On the drive in we saw hundreds of the world’s rarest gull, the Black-billed Gull, roosting in a paddock. There were also several South Island Pied Oystercatchers in another field.

We started to walk along the river, learning about important and unique plants and watching a Banded Dotterel race along the water’s edge. We soon started to see a few more, and two Black-fronted Terns cruised along beside us.

This bit was probably the highlight of camp. We spotted a distant Wrybill feeding and walking towards us. We all lay down and set up to watch it. It ran right up to us. Everyone got amazing photos.

We crossed the deep river, which was absolutely freezing! But it was worth it when we got to the other side, where we found a lot more Banded Dotterel and three more Wrybills. There were also Black-billed Gull, Black-fronted Tern, and our first records of several common waterfowl on camp; including Paradise Shelduck and White-faced Heron.

Back at the lodge, we had a bit of free time after the river session. Some decided to walk along the nature walk, encountering Yellow-crowned Parakeet and re-spotting the starling chick on the walk back to the lodge. But everyone was soon off to bed because tomorrow was another busy river crossing day.

A curious Wrybill © Caiden Binzegger

11th of January:

Today’s river session didn’t require a van; it was just a nice short walk from the lodge. We found a huge diversity of birds here, with hundreds of Starling and forty Goldfinch on the track down to the river and back up. On the river there were three Wrybill and seven Banded Dotterel hopping around. One of the Wrybill was a fledgling, which was great to see! There was also an incredible flock of forty two Black-fronted Tern, resting together with several flying super close to us feeding!! Thirty eight Black-billed Gull were also present.

We then headed further down the river, listening to the songs of a dozen Skylarks as we walked. Our destination was a Southern black backed gull colony. Although these birds are native, they are abundant and destroy the nests of many endangered river birds. Our plan was to see if there were any chicks to cull before they fledged. We managed to catch three chicks, and these were successfully dealt with.

On the walk back we encountered at least 4 charming little New Zealand Pipit!

When we were back at the lodge we headed out to set up trapping tunnels and trail cameras. This was an extremely educational experience that we definitely won't be forgetting! We also spotted our first Black morph Fantail for camp!

That afternoon we had a lecture about reptiles and moths. After that we walked around the lodge, counting 14 Kereru! We then all got our stuff together to head out for the forest by night session. We watched 19 Kereru coming into the roost while setting up sheets with UV lights to attract moths.

We found a lot of moths over the night, with over 70 species! We also had amazing views of a Morepork | Ruru, and heard several more. A Kereru was also spotted high up in a tree roosting using a torch!

12th of January:

In the morning we went and checked the trapping tunnels. Although the trail cameras didn't spot anything during the night, the trapping tunnels were a different story! All but one tunnel were full of mice footprints, with several rat footprints as well. We also had a nice low Falcon flyover, a Kaka, Brown Creeper feeding young, and several Yellow-crowned Parakeets while we were checking these!

We then had a very successful walk around the nature track loop, with lots of the local birds present and some great photo opportunities!

It was time to go for another walk in the hopes of finding Yellowhead. We jumped in the vans heading to Davis flat. We saw lots of Tomtit, some Rifleman, and a few photogenic Kereru. When we got to the river we decided to go for a swim. The water was crystal clear and freezing!

We needed to get back for the BBQ tonight, but we decided to try one more time for Yellowhead | Mohua. We drove to Cameron Creek, but one group accidentally headed to Cameron Flat instead! The Cameron Flat group had a lovely flyover Falcon to a nest, but the Cameron Creek group finally encountered the elusive Mohua! Unfortunately it was only a brief and distant call.

The BBQ was great, and we had a really fun quiz straight afterwards! A few people also went for a quick swim and splash fight in the pool. It was a great and memorable last day of camp.

13th of January:

This was the farewell day. We sadly said goodbye to each other as we departed. A few people headed back to Cameron Creek in hopes of striking the jackpot with Mohua. They didn’t find the Mohua, but did encounter a very friendly Tomtit in the carpark!

And finally, many of us heading down to Queenstown saw some nesting Great-crested Grebes at the south end of Lake Hawea either from the car or from a nice viewing area!