Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Day trip to the Otago Peninsula (finally)

Even though we've been living in New Zealand for over a year, everyday groceries are shockingly expensive here and we haven't really been able to afford any luxuries like leaving town. With Morgan and Josh in town, we were able to borrow a car from our labmate Tsai and split the gas (for an hour and a half of driving, it was about 45 bucks or so to fill back up; that's 30 cents gone every minute - there's a reason Sarah and I won't be buying a car while we're down here!). So, we picked up the car from Tsai, hopped in, and headed out to the Otago Peninsula for a day to go try and see pinnipeds, penguins, and albatross.


We saw some pukekos in a field past Portobello, which is one of my wife's favorite birds - they are really pretty, and a bit awkward in proportion that gives them some real character.


We saw some oystercatchers down at Pilot Beach, which at dusk is a good spot to try and see little blue penguins.


At Pilot beach there was also a nice paradise duck fly by.


A New Zealand fur seal (Arctocephalus forsteri). I had seen these on a previous field trip to Wangaloa.



Some more fur seals at Pilot Beach.


Up the hill at Taiaroa Head, a single cormorant flies out to sea.


A spotted shag (a first for me) flies low over the Pacific.


A spotted shag unsuccessfully tries to land on a vertical face at Taiaroa Head.


These two NZ sea lions (Phocarctos hookeri) battled for about a half hour when we got to Sandfly Bay.


Sea lion combat at the east end of Sandfly Bay.


A lone sea lion emerges from the surf.


The two subadult males continue to fight (they must have raging testosterone levels).


An old adult sea lion growls at a younger male.


The old male had an impressive yawn.


The view east along the harbor just after sunset.


The view west towards Dunedin from the peninsula just after sunset.

2 comments:

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  2. Oops, I meant to say that I love the double chin on the sea lion!
    And the pictures of the sea lions on the beach.

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