Mount Cook highway

Tasman River, Glentanner

We dropped in to the Information Centre at Twizel on our way up to Mount Cook Village. Just to check. We mentioned that we were looking for birds and a lady there told exactly where to go to find Black Stilts! (See the photo above.) We had no expectation of seeing this rare and endangered bird so we were pretty excited and dropped every other plan in favour of 'The Hunt for the Black Stilts'.

The recommended site was on the road to Mount Cook at the head of Lake Pukaki.

Sigrid at the hot spot for Black Stilts,
the braided gravelled wetlands of the Tasman River
 at the head of Lake Pukaki.

We saw the birds as soon as we pulled up and they weren't shy of us. Most of the group were mottled young birds and there were a few black adults (with red eyes and red legs). They all had leg bands which indicates that the population is being monitored.

An adult Black Stilt. They seem to like standing on one leg.

A Black-fronted Tern. Another new bird for our list.

After the excitement of spending time with the stilts everything else was a bonus - the beautiful scenery, snow-capped mountains, the Mount Cook Visitor Centre, the walks through silver beech forest at Mount Cook village, the misty views, the extraordinary blue glacial-water lakes and the shadows of drifting clouds on mountains and lakes.

Mount Cook Visitor Centre

Silver Beech and ferns, Mount Cook village.

Lake Pukaki