Birding Down Under: Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand & Australia (with Chatham Islands)

Erect-crested Penguins © Andy Woods

A voyage to the Southern Ocean features remote Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand and Australia, with the Chatham Islands; the world’s greatest seabird spectacles; and travel aboard a comfortable small adventure cruise ship.

Birding Down Under is a magnificent exploration of the Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand and Australia, a region known for exceptional biodiversity. From Bluff on the south coast of New Zealand’s South Island to remote island clusters in the Southern Ocean, we’ll partake in a marvelous natural history program with strong emphases on birding, botany, marine mammal viewing, and scenic highlights. For this voyage, we’re partnering with New Zealand-based Heritage Expeditions. Our vessel is the Heritage Adventurer, a 140-passenger small adventure cruise ship offering spacious and comfortable accommodations, high quality cuisine, ample space on the viewing decks, and good stability for expedition-style travel.

The Subantarctic Islands are a naturalist’s treasure-trove. Harboring marvelous communities of birds and plants, these islands are demonstrations of evolution where species that colonized these outposts in the distant past have developed into unique varieties found nowhere else. Our itinerary is designed to produce encounters with most of the special seabirds and marine mammals of the region, with large numbers of breeding penguins, albatross, petrels, shearwaters, storm-petrels, and more. Ten of the world’s albatross species and more than 40 species of seabirds breed here, confirming why many consider this region the finest place for seabirding in the world.

By ship, Zodiac, and on shore, we’ll visit the Snares—forest-covered islets home to millions of seabirds and endemic Snares Penguins; Aucklands—featuring Enderby Island with its flightless Auckland Islands Teal, Yellow-eyed Penguins, rata forest, endemic landbirds, and New Zealand Sea Lions; Australian-held Macquarie Island—home to splendid scenery, colonies of King and Royal penguins, and beaches clad with Southern Elephant Seals; Campbell Island—renowned for its remarkable introduced predator eradication program, flightless Campbell Islands Teal, and nesting Southern Royal Albatrosses; Antipodes—home to Erect-crested Penguins, two endemic parakeets, and nesting Light-mantled and Antipodean albatrosses; the Bounties—nesting site for Salvin’s Albatross; and Pyramid Rock—the only nesting site for the beautiful Chatham Albatross. An added bonus is a grand finale visit to the Chatham Islands, an archipelago not truly Subantarctic, but a location with endemic landbirds and pleasing scenery.

Leading this trip are the popular husband and wife team of Michael O’Brien and Louise Zemaitis, who between them have guided five previous trips to the Southern Ocean.

All meals and accommodations aboard ship; activities include lengthy inter-island transits, Zodiac cruises, and shore excursions; mixed weather and sea conditions expected; temperatures mild to cold but not frigid.

Pyramid Rock, Chatham Islands © J. Mishina