This year's event was a complete letdown after the preceding competitions, with the paltry total of only five real entrants (plus my solo effort). None of the previous winners were involved - my team scratched due to my partner-in-crime Brent Stephenson deserting for a trip to Indonesia.

With so few teams the total number of species recorded was way down, but there are two items of good news. Firstly there were two teams including children (Brown's Bay Birders and Twellington Tweeters), and secondly the winning total is a new record with 89 species recorded by Tinny Tickers (an account of their effort by Ralph Powlesland is below).

A common theme in the reports sent to me is that all the entrants thoroughly enjoyed their day out, and I can only hope that more of you will take the opportunity to participate next year, otherwise this annual fun event will just fade away.

Brent and I shall surely attempt to wrest the record back next time, and that 100-birds-in-a-day tag has our names on it !!

Congratulations to Ralph and his team - the Magnificent Mantelpiece Monstrosity is deservedly theirs. The best non-boat score was Who ate all the Pies?, the best with kids was Twellington Tweeters, and the best 20 km radius score was mine.

Full (?!) results below:

Team Recorder Total
Who ate all the Pies? Tim Barnard 71
Waikato OSNZ Paul Cuming 53
Tinny Tickers Ralph Powlesland 89
Brown's Bay Birders Shawn Loewen 43
Twellington Tweeters Peter Reese 52

(Lone Ranger) (Sav Saville) (61)

SAV SAVILLE

3rd Time Lucky….

We, the Tinny Tickers, Stephen Sharp, and Mary and I, started our effort at the junction of the Trig and Wilkinson tracks on Kapiti Island at 12:45 pm, where a little earlier a Kaka, a NZ Robin and a pair of Weka had been keen to share our lunches.

As we made our way down to Rangatira we ticked off Stitchbird, Saddleback, Morepork (whose roost site was indicated by the alarm calls of Bellbirds, North Island Robins and Whiteheads), and the more common forest birds, such as North Island Tomtit, Red-crowned Parakeet and Kereru.

Once down on the flat we saw several more species, including Takahe, NZ Pipit, and Variable Oystercatcher. Although we missed out on cuckoos, by the time we left Kapiti at 3 pm we had made a good start, having ticked off 30 species.

Driving north from Paraparaumu, our tally increased gradually as we spotted common species from the car - House Sparrow, Welcome Swallow, Mallard, Pukeko, etc. First stop was the Otaki Sewage Ponds for Grey Teal and other waterfowl, and we were delighted to also see Black-fronted Dotterel.

Our next destination was the Manawatu Estuary near Foxton for waders. Having arrived about three hours after the high tide, we were left to sight the common and distinctive species from afar, such as Bar-tailed Godwit, Lesser Knot, Wrybill and SIPO. In addition, we had excellent views of flocks of feeding Little Black Shag and Royal Spoonbill, and a Little Tern.

Heading back south, we visited Lake Horowhenua for Australian Coot but ended up with no new species at all. A diversion inland near Otaki into farming country with scattered totaras soon rewarded us with our target, the Eastern Rosella, plus finches. With dusk fast approaching, we searched the ponds and estuary at Waikanae for Banded Dotterel, NZ Scaup and NZ Dabchick; two out of three was OK. Fish and chips at Plimmerton quelled our hunger pangs, then our final search of the day was for a Blue Penguin among the rocks at the water's edge of Frank Kitts Park, Wellington - luck was with us.

A couple hours sleep, then off to board the Picton ferry for the 1.30 am sailing! Dawn found us at Lake Elterwater hoping to find a coot, but missed again. At Kowhai Bush, near Kaikoura, we soon saw our targets, California Quail, South Island Robin, Brown Creeper and Rifleman.

At Kaikoura there was a strong north-east wind raging, so much so that fur seals were hauled out beside the Peninsula carpark, and hundreds of Hutton's Shearwaters were flying close to shore. Even though the weather seemed far from ideal for a boat trip, our results on the Oceanwings trip were great, 16 species in total. Three majestic Wandering Albatrosses and a couple of Salvin's Mollymawks took centre stage, among about 30 squabbling Cape Petrels just off the back of the boat. However, the highlight for me was having a Southern Giant Petrel and a Northern Giant Petrel sitting on the water next to each other close to the boat.

Even though we had nearly an hour to spare on getting off the boat, and searched the lower Kahutara and Kowhai Rivers for Black-billed Gulls and Black-fronted Terns, we failed to increase our tally of 90 species. We then retired to a local café for lunch, very happy with what we had seen, and the fun we had had in the process.

The effort was third time lucky because during two previous attempts the weather thwarted us getting to Kapiti. One hundred species in 24 hours - yes, it's possible with some preparatory trips and a good dose of luck

RALPH POWLESLAND