Crazy Critters

While out photographing nature I'm generally on the lookout for birds to snap. Often I am confronted with critters of a different kind altho I was totally unprepared for the beastie I discovered in Sullivans Lake a couple of weeks ago. I thought I was back in Florida when I spotted this red-eared turtle sunbathing on a dead tree branch. He was a bit wary and splashed back into the water when I got too close. I suspect he was someones pet until they got sick of him and released him into this modest man-made lake. Potentially an ecological disaster but in all honesty just one of many. In fact things might turn out ok if he eats all the Koi Carp that reside there. One introduced nasty making good on another introduced nasty! (sarcasm/irony) Speaking of nasties, I took a break yesterday and jumped the back fence to the Riverbank. There were no birds or anything very interesting but it was a lovely day and I figured if I sat and waited something would come along. I was right..... a big fat Rat swam by, he almost as surprised to see me as I was to see him. Disgusting or Cute? Not sure myself but I do know he's another ecological disaster!

To something completely different.... Whakaari or White Island lies out from the coast of my home town. Usually it sits quite unassuming on the horizon but yesterday it was having a bit of a rumble and puff. I wonder what the tourists were thinking that visited her yesterday. Those gas masks would have come in handy! Troy and I were lucky enough to go a few years ago. It was a fantastic day out and I can wholeheartedly reccomend it to locals and visitors alike. Fantastic place and a unique experience.

Last weekend I was stuck at home both days so I had to entertain myself with the usual suspects found in my backyard. The Starlings are building nests in the woodshed again! Messy buggers.

This Thrush already has babies hatched and is busy collecting worms for them. While I watched she dug up a big fat worm only to have a kingfisher zoom down and steal it from under her nose.

Yesterday morning was a beauty and for once the whitebaiters hadn't hogged all my good bird photographing possies. I got this shot of a heron taking off which I was quite pleased with.

I met an interesting young character the same morning. This is Stanley. He let me photograph him with his puppy "Eel" before he headed back to the skate bowl with his buddies. I really wanted him to leave Eel with me but no such luck!

Shagsville

Last Friday I visited a spot on the river a little further down than my usual post. There was a couple of shags fishing and after I sat down to observe a few more arrived. Two were Little Shags (with white on them) and three were Little Black Shags. The Little Black Shags arrived singly but teamed up to hunt as a group which was interesting to watch. The Little Shags were more independent and one quickly made himself known as the boss and privvy to the best spot on the rock, pushing the other birds off.

All the shags had to take a break now and then to dry their feathers holding their wings out to speed up the process. Breakfast was made up of some large blenny type fish or what we used to call cockabullies when I was a kid.

Nga Manu Exhibition

The "Nga Manu" exhibition opened at the Whakatane Museum Gallery Last Night. I had two large paintings in it plus a collection of eight small assemblage collages in my "Curved Wall Collection." Here are 3 from the series. Owl Widget

Wishbone

Bingo

It was a great night & the exhibition was well received. It was lovely to exhibit with some great artists whose work I really admire, Raymond Ching in particular. "Nga Manu" runs until October 31st.

Ups and Downs

As I mentioned life has been a roller coaster lately. I travelled to Auckland on Monday to my Auntys funeral which was very sad. She was quite young and I'll always remember her as a real lady and a beautiful and caring person. I remember going to her husbands funeral about four years ago and on the way out of town we saw a large white heron at Thornton. Not a common bird anywhere in NZ really and certainly not often seen here. And in a strange coincidence I saw another at Matata on Monday as we travelled to my Auntys farewell. I'm not really a spiritual person but it was a bit weird all the same.

Biodiversity photo contest

The last two weeks have been a real roller coaster ride. I got some great news on the 10th September - I won the International year of Biodiversity Photo competition run by the Dept of Conservation, Forest and Bird, NIWA & UNESCO. Judges were Kim Westerskov, Craig Potton and Norman Heke of Te Papa. And to top it off DOC flew me down to Wellington, put me up in a swanky hotel and took me to the awards night at Zealandia! All that and a cheque for $1,300. I had a sore arm from pinching myself to see if it was real. Here's my winning photo.

I had a great day in our capital city shopping & visiting the art galleries and was even given a tour of the DOC building, an eco friendly design that was full of friendly people. It was all wonderful til the flight home. The weather had been a bit dodgy but nothing major until I was 20kms southeast of the Whakatane airport when the weather turned very violent very suddenly. We spent 20 mins circling the airport being tossed like a salad waiting for an opportunity to land. Troy was waiting in the carpark with the car rocking in the wind gusts as he watched the rain blown in sideways along the runway. My parents listened to the plane fly low over their house more than once as I sat a couple of hundred feet above them gripping the armrests in a cold sweat. When we finally landed it was without incident but there was some very relieved passengers I can tell you. " Welcome to Whakatane, we hope you enjoyed your flight." YEAH RIGHT!!!