Gerard and Beth decided to spend a day at Tiritiri Matangi while the children were at school. In past visits, we had never been successful at getting a picture of a saddleback, a native bird that hops and flits around in a highly caffeinated manner. Saddlebacks are mostly black but have an orange-brown spot on their back, which, as their name suggests, looks like a saddle. They only live on offshore islands and even though we had seen plenty of them on past trips to Tiritiri, we had never caught a shot of one. We had a pleasant and relaxing day, serenaded by bellbirds and tuis as we walked around the island. With some patience and a little luck, Gerard got a couple of decent saddleback shots.
Later, while eating lunch near the lighthouse, we were approached by one very curious takahe hoping for a handout. We were delightfully surprised to discover, in the last hour of our visit, two kokakos feeding in a tree. Along with the kiwi, they were the only species of bird on Tiritiri that we had never had the pleasure of seeing before. Now if we could only get those red headed parrots to sit still for a moment. Guess that’s our mission on the next visit.
