Showing posts with label tui. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tui. Show all posts

Friday, 13 May 2011

Neighbourhood watch

Yesterday morning there was a racket in the skies above my studio. Four Tui were circling and shrieking their alarm call.

I wondered what all the fuss was about. Finally they disapeared and were silent. A moment later a falcon flew past. I figured out what they were doing - it was Tui Neighbourhood Watch!



The falcon must have been perched nearby looking for prey. The Tuis let all the birds in the neighbourhood know to lay low, there was danger about. Falcon gave up and flew off in a huff!

Tuesday, 7 September 2010

Shots of the Day

A gloomy, mainly wet day today but it had its share of redeeming moments. Standing near the riverbank I captured a few frames of a passing Harrier. Not great on their own but a montage of three images made a pretty cool pic. The young hawks are dark chocolate coloured and get paler as they age so this one has a few years under its belt. The Kaka Beak is in flower at the moment and has been discovered by resident tui and bellbirds in the last week. I have been waiting for a fine day so I can photograph the irridescence in the plumage of the tui but the weather has not been co-operating.
Amazing colour in the Kaka Beak flowers!
The dude below could be easily mistaken for a sparrow, in fact it is often called a Hedge Sparrow. Technically it is a different family and more correctly termed a Dunnock.
In my last shot a female Blackbird hides among the Bluebells. I'm hanging out for the sun to come out again! Maybe tommorrow.

Monday, 9 August 2010

Come on spring!

Despite it being a dull grey morning I couldn't help visiting the river before getting to my studio this morning. I sat in the car and sulked as it started to drizzle. The river was like something out of Willy Wonkas factory - chocolate with floodwater. I was about to leave when a white-faced heron turned up so I waited a bit more. Suddenly an egret landed on the mudflat, a white beacon in a dull landscape. It was too far away, even with my 350mm lens and the light was dreary. It did a breif flyby of the yacht club before chasing the white-faced heron off over the river. Two miserable shots were all I gleaned from the visit. I gave up and headed off and ten minutes later the sun came out in all its spring gloriousness. Sigh! This daffodil glows with the promise of better weather around the corner. A tui visits our early flowering kowhai about a week ago. Roll on Spring!

Friday, 8 January 2010

Assorted bird photos

I was having a sort out of photos lately as "he who knows about computers" has informed me that I have over 46 gigabytes of photos and that apparently is lots. Anyhoo I came across some pics I have taken in the last month or two that I quite like so I thought I'd share them.This is obviously just a sparrow but I like that I caught him just as he's taking off. Above is a juvenile white-faced heron. You can tell he's a young one because the white mask on his face has yet to develop properly. I think the appeal of this shot was the lovely reflections in the frog pond by the local skate bowl.I like this shot of a white fronted tern taken at Ohiwa Harbour mainly because of the position of the tail and wings. These birds have such black heads and eyes that the two blend together so that you can't make out the eyes at all. And they also have strangely small feet which is kinda weird.
Lastly, my favourite - a tui on a flax flower after a rain shower. His feathers are ruffled by a sudden gust of wind but he didn't seem to mind so much.