Planning a birding trip around New Zealand

New Zealand is a small country with a big list of birds you can't see anywhere else. It is also a country where many of those birds have retreated to islands, fenced sanctuaries and well-trapped forests. Good planning matters more here than almost anywhere: a day in the wrong place can mean a quiet bush walk with nothing but introduced chaffinches, while the right ferry can put you within metres of a takahē.

This field note is about planning your own trip, whether that's a long weekend or several weeks. We don't sell or run trips. If you want a guide for part of the journey, check the operator's own site and make sure they hold the right permits for the places they visit.

Start with a target list, not a route

The most useful first step is a short list of the birds you most want to see, grouped by habitat. New Zealand birding splits neatly into four kinds of places:

• Island sanctuaries and fenced reserves for the rare forest birds: hihi (stitchbird), tīeke (saddleback), takahē and kōkako.
• Mainland forest for kererū (New Zealand pigeon), korimako (bellbird), kākā (forest parrot), titipounamu (rifleman) and, with luck, whio (blue duck) on fast rivers.
• Harbours and estuaries for kuaka (bar-tailed godwit), ngutu pare (wrybill) and tūturiwhatu (New Zealand dotterel).
• The open sea for albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters, which you'll mostly see from a boat.

Use NZ Birds Online to look up each species. Its pages give distribution, habitat and calls, and many include recordings worth learning before you go. Once you know which habitats you need, the route almost draws itself.

When to go: the birding year

There is no bad month for birds here, but the mix changes a lot through the year.

Spring and summer (September to February) is the busy season. Forest birds are singing and breeding, sanctuaries are at their most lively, and the Arctic-breeding shorebirds are back on the harbours. Kuaka start arriving in early September and leave from early March. Off Kaikōura, Hutton's shearwaters gather close inshore from about September to March. Ferries to popular islands often sell out in summer, so plan sailings well ahead.

Autumn and winter (March to August) is quieter on land but rewarding at sea and on the northern harbours. Ngutu pare, which breed on Canterbury's braided rivers, spend roughly January to July on northern harbours such as the Firth of Thames and Manukau. Westland petrels are common in Cook Strait waters in winter, and kākā visit some city gardens in the colder months.

Shaping a route

Because the main islands are long and thin, most people work either north to south or south to north. Rather than a day-by-day plan, think in regions:

• Auckland and the Hauraki Gulf. An island sanctuary day (Tiritiri Matangi is the classic), a seabird boat trip in the outer Gulf, and the Firth of Thames shorebirds a short drive south-east.
• Central North Island. Large forests where kōkako survive with predator control, and rivers where whio have strongholds.
• Wellington. Zealandia's fenced valley, kākā in the suburbs, and Kapiti Island offshore.
• Kaikōura and Canterbury. Deep water close to shore for albatrosses and petrels, and the braided rivers where ngutu pare breed.
• The Southern Alps. Kea (mountain parrot) around passes such as Arthur's Pass. Never feed them.
• Otago and Southland. Toroa (albatross) and hoiho (yellow-eyed penguin) along the coast, viewed only from hides and set viewing areas.
• Rakiura Stewart Island. Forest birds on Ulva Island and a real chance of a kiwi.

Allow slack. Boat trips get cancelled for weather, and island ferries don't always run every day. Two spare days in a three-week trip is not too many. Check MetService marine forecasts the day before any sailing.

Guided or independent?

You can see a great deal on your own. Sanctuaries have clear tracks, volunteers are often happy to point out where birds have been feeding, and many shorebird roosts can be watched from public paths.

A guide earns their keep in three places: pelagic seabird trips, where an experienced skipper knows where birds gather; night walks for kiwi, where fieldcraft and red torches matter; and private or permit-only land. For any of these, read the operator's own site, ask what permits or concessions they hold, and check their wildlife code of conduct. On public conservation land, the Department of Conservation (DOC) grants concessions to commercial operators.

Permits, ferries and biosecurity

Some of the best places are also the most protected. A few rules of thumb:

• Islands need clean gear. Check bags, boots and clothing for seeds, soil, insects and, above all, rodents before you board. Some sanctuaries and ferry operators ask you to check your bag again at the wharf.
• Some places need a permit. The subantarctic islands, for example, require a DOC permit to land, and most visitors go on an expedition ship that arranges it.
• Stay on tracks and give birds space. Ground-nesting shorebirds and penguins are easily disturbed. If a bird changes its behaviour because of you, you're too close.

DOC's birds A–Z pages are the best place to check the status of a species and any rules for watching it.

Keeping notes and sharing sightings

Keep a simple daily list with places and counts. Your notes become far more useful if you share them. Many New Zealand birders log sightings on eBird, and Birds New Zealand, the country's ornithological society, runs national schemes and a rare-birds committee for unusual records.

Most of all, leave room in the plan to sit still. A korimako singing over a quiet track at dawn is one of the best things this country has to offer, and it doesn't appear on any schedule.