The Birds of Kaikoura

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 area 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 which sustains a vibrant food chain supporting a large variety of fish species, marine mammals and seabirds.Click on the links below for more information on each bird species.

Southern Royal Albatross	Great Albatross Five varieties of the great albatross can be seen off Kaikoura; wandering albatross, Antipodean albatross, Gibson's albatross, northern royal albatross and southern royal albatross.
Banded Albatross Most of the albatross seen in Kaikoura have travelled thousands of kilometres to get here. Some of albatross seen in Kaikoura have bands on their legs and these bands have been put on while the birds are on their nesting sites on Sub Antarctic Islands. Kath Walker and Greame Elliot have been working on wandering albatross in the Auckland and Antipodes Islands since 1991 and are responsible for many of the bands seen on birds off Kaikoura. For photos and deatils on some banded birds seen on our tours go to the Gallery. We also have had sightings of banded royal albatross that have been banded at the breeding site at Taiaroa Head, Dunedin. Once again these can be viewed on our Gallery.
Black-browed Albatross	Albatross Up to eight varieties of the smaller albatross (sometimes referred to as mollymawks) can be seen in the waters off Kaikoura.
Bullers Shearwater	Shearwater Seven varieties; flesh-footed, Buller’s, sooty, short-tailed, fluttering, Hutton's and little shearwater.
Cape Petrel	Petrels Fourteen varieties; some of these include Westland, common diving, white-chinned, cape pigeon, southern giant, northern giant and Wilson's storm petrel.
Fairy Prion	Prions There are four other species of prions which can be seen off the Kaikoura Coast, but they are very difficult to distinguish between. The chances are that most prions seen off Kaikoura will be fairy prions.
Little Shag	Shag Four varieties including the black, pied, little and spotted.