Pelagic Bird Watching – Kaikoura

Kaikoura is not only famous for whales and dolphins but arguably one of the world’s most exciting arenas for pelagic (ocean going) birds. Within close proximity to the beautiful Kaikoura Peninsula, range a considerable array of albatross, petrels, shearwaters, terns, shags and gulls. Take a cruise to view these birds with a well known local authority. Kaikoura has one of the greatest numbers of different types of seabirds within a small area than anywhere along the New Zealand coastline. The list of seabirds below have been sighted in an are from Kaikoura Peninsula south to a distance of 10 miles off the Conway river mouth, roughly a triangular area. One of the reasons for such a large number of different types of seabirds is the presence of a deepwater trench (the Kaikoura Canyon), close inshore and upwellings of cold nutrient rich water over the shallower coastal waters (supporting flocks of tens of thousands of Hutton’s shearwaters which breed in the nearby Seaward Kaikoura mountains).