It still gives me a great thrill to find a lifer in NZ, a new bird I have never seen before. Such was my luck this week as I quickly followed up on a report of a Pallid Cuckoo on a dairy farm in South Taranaki. The observant farmer had reported the strange bird on his property, for which we are grateful. These birds are from Australia and this is only the ninth record in NZ, since records began. On arrival the bird was not found, but later a neighbour farmer phoned to say the bird was on his place, so we were in luck.
