Waxeyes, kingfishers and those damned seagulls.

We have a large cotoneaster tree in our front yard that is full of little red berries...well at least it was full a week or so ago. The waxeyes and blackbirds have been feasting on the berries with great gusto so the tree has been nearly stripped within a matter of days. The waxeyes in particular have descended in great flocks and gobbled them whole - quite a feat for such a tiny bird.

Troy had worked one weekend (he's a photojournalist) and had bought his D200 work camera home with him. On Sunday afternoon I took it out to the tree and got these shots with a Nikon 100-400VR lens and was really pleased with the results. Its just so bloody heavy though! Hurt my shoulder after a while. I'm such a wuss!

I love my Canon camera because its nice and light and fits my small hands but I must admit I have been drooling over the 100-400 image stabilised Canon lens in Laser. Just think what I could do with that... Shame its $3,500!!!

The other day I was at my favourite spot on the river photographing kingfishers. I like to try and snap them as dive for crabs and the odd fish. One kingfisher spotted a big worm on the bank, swooped down and caught it then flew back to his perch on the railing. A seagull spied him there with his big fat worm lunch and decided to steal it for himself... as they do. I caught the action! They disapeared from sight so I don't know who ended up with the prize. Those damn seagulls try to steal food from almost all the birds, I got this shot of a heron getting mugged for a mullet. I don't normally take photos of seagulls, not willingly anyway. You'd be surprised at how many of my photos are ruined by a bloody seagull flying into the middle of my shot! However I did get quite a groovy shot of a seagull drinking out of the fountain outside the Auckland City Art Gallery a few months ago. (Yeah I know - out with my camera in the big smoke and all I can find to photograph is a BIRD and a SEAGULL at that! Obsessive!)

Of Bitterns, Botulism and a Birthday

In Mid-April I got a call from Rosemary Tully at Whakatane Bird Rescue to say she had a bittern that she had rehabilitated and was ready for release at the Nukuhau Saltmarsh. A small crowd of people turned up to watch. Margaret and Stuart Slade told me of a large bittern that they often see there so we all hoped the two would perhaps meet up at a later date and make some little bitterns. The view from the end of the boardwalk out over the marsh was beautiful, the perfect spot for the release. Rosemary plucked a couple of feathers from the bird for Dept. of Conservations DNA records then set it down on the platform where it went into "Stick" mode, doing its best to impersonate a stick. This is when I took heaps of photos so the bittern came to the conclusion that it was fooling no-one and decided to split. It flew a short way before disapearing into the reeds. A happy conclusion for all!

MAY 2008, I have been visiting the Apanui mudflats almost every morning hoping to see the Kotuku. They breed in Okarito in Westland in the South Island over the spring/summer then disperse to spots all around the country in the winter. The spoonbills have been back for a while, I've seen up to five in this spot lately. They make lovely subjects & I've got some nice shots. But they are a bit goofy in comparison to the kotuku.

I arrived at the mudflats one morning at low tide and was checking out the action looking for something to photograph. I walked out onto the mud & saw a large flock of Black-backed gulls which was unusual. I normally see a few individuals but not in large numbers. As I approached the gulls a few let me get very close. It became apparent that three of them so sick that they were unable to walk or fly which put me in a bit of a predicament. I am not a fan of these birds as they prey on the chicks of other birds (dotterels for one.) BUT I couldn't walk away and leave them to die slowly in the sun. After a call to Mike Jones at DOC I found out they were probably suffering from Avian Botulism and there was no chance of recovery. Mike was busy with a kiwi release and most of the other staff were at a funeral which left ME to deal with the situation. Quite by chance I had a large plastic bin in the back of the car so I gingerly picked up the gulls and put them in it. I was surprised at how light they were for such a large bird. They put up no fight. I took them to the "Vets for Pets" clinic in McAlister St and explained the situation to the receptionist who assured me the vet would deal to them as soon as she was finished with her current patient. A lady with a poodle came over to peer into my Box of Birds. "Aaaah" she cooed and went to pat one....Duh! It latched onto her hand in one final defiant gesture..... I tried not to laugh.

My Dad turned 72 on the 24th May and Troy and I took him and Mum to Rotorua to visit Wingspan. My sister Gina and her daughters Nicky and Melissa met us there also. We were treated to the usual stunning flying demos by NZ falcons Ozzie and Ruby and everyone had the chance to have them land on their (gloved) hand. My nieces were especially impressed as was the Birthday Boy! Ten year old Nicky fell in love with "Whisper" the Morepork and asked her Mum if she could get an owl of her own. Gina told her that you can't buy owls but Nicola insisted she would be able to find one on TradeMe. We all had a wonderful afternoon & Dad said it was the BEST Birthday!

Here's one of my latest paintings. Its a dotterel in winter plumage. I had only just finished it when it sold two days later. I felt sorry to see it go as I hadn't finished looking at it which sounds a bit strange but I'm like that with my paintings. I like to look at them for a while to make sure there is nothing that I want to change. It went to a good home so thats good.

These little birds are much more colourful in their breeding plumage when the chest is a lovely rust colour.

Monday 9th JUNE.

HE'S BACK! The Kotuku I mean. I saw him briefly on Friday afternoon but the light was too dim to photograph him. Then this morning I was at the mudflats when he soared past and landed on the Yacht Club railings. He was in the shade so I got a couple of photos then went to warm my frozen fingers on the sunny side of the building. He flew up river to the little creek behind the skate bowl and I got some nice photos but he was a little far away. He couldn't find much to eat so he flew back to the sunny side of the yacht club where I got some great shots of him preening. I was hoping he might fly down to the rocky point to catch mullet but Troy phoned for me to take him home as he has a nasty cold. BUGGER! Oh well, theres always tomorrow!

skylarks nest, hedgehog omelettes.

Heres the picture of the Skylarks nest that I had trouble uploading a couple of days ago. Four beautiful eggs in a cup of dried grass.

Not long after I'd found the nest I made another discovery. A young hedgehog had fallen into our cattlestop at the front gate. I armed myself with a pair of gardening gloves and lifted him out thinking he'd make a great portrait subject. I lined an ice-cream container with dried leaves and grass and placed him in it on his back still tightly curled into a ball. I put my camera on a tripod and waited for him to uncurl. When he opened up I got some great shots, he looked so cute blinking in the sunlight.

Then I had an uncomfortable thought... hedgehogs are actually a pest, preying on the eggs and young of gound-nesting birds just like the skylarks! So if I am to call myself a true conservationist I must dispose of him. BUT HOW? I could drop him in a bucket of water but that would be far too cruel. Besides I think hedgehogs can swim. I could take him to the vet and get him euthanised but that would be too expensive and I'd feel pretty stupid sitting in the waiting room. I could shoot him with a shotgun but that would be far too messy. (Images of jam and toothpicks spring to mind.) I had to come up with another option so I put the hedgehog on the ground and went inside to have a coffee and think about it. When I went back after my coffee lo and behold, the hedgehog was gone!

About a few days later I went back to the skylarks nest and there were two chicks, beautifully camouflaged with feathers that looked like dried grass growing out of their heads. I wondered what happened to the other two eggs...hedgehog omelettes perhaps?

Fantail Baths and more swallow babies.

HAPPY NEW YEAR and sorry for not updating over the xmas period. Lots of other commitments during that time. Also I've just finished co-ordinating the Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Awards which was a HUGE job! Trying to organise nearly two hundred artists made me realise what a disorganised, emotional, fickle, and sometimes demanding bunch of people we really are. Yes its a generalisation and no they are not all like that & its quite UN-politically correct of me to lump them all in together but being one myself I feel quite qualified to comment.

So my New Years resolution (apart from the usual "drop ten kilos") is to include more of my artwork on here as I have labelled my blog "Art and Photos". More later. The news around here is that the swallows in the carport have just fledged their second brood, four babies this time. I watched the parents chase a hawk off tonight. When they get territorial the little buggers can be quite ruthless and have me running for cover! There was also a family above the door to my studio in town. Three babies raised successfully. The first day they left the nest they alighted just outside my window on the wires across the roof outside and I put my face up against the pane to watch. One of the babies flew towards me and sat on the window frame on the other side of the glass. We eyeballed each other from about six inches away.

We have also had a family of fantails in the garden. For about three weeks the babies would come and use my birdbath every afternoon. And they love to sing in the bath too! The young ones are quite orangey in colour and of course their tails are quite short in comparison to the adult birds. My Birdbath is simply a large glazed saucer bought from the garden centre, the sort you put under flowerpots and it only cost me $10. I had it sitting on a large upturned pot to start with but it was low enough for Bill the Wonderdog to drink out of so now I have it atop a large Bamboo pole.

Heres a PAINTING I did late last year of a pair of fantails in flight.

Another family in the neighbourhood at the moment are the skylarks. I was out in the paddock playing frisbee with Bill and I saw a skylark fly up from in the grass. It was a distance away so it took me a little while to find where she had been but sure enough there was the most beautiful little nest. Just a cup shaped hollow in a clump of dried grass with four very camouflaged eggs. I poked a small stick into the fencepost nearest it so that I could find it again and made sure I left it alone. Apart from going back once with my camera the next day of course but I seem to be having trouble uploading the resulting photo at the moment. I guess this will have to wait til tomorrow. I have some photos of an awesome little hedgehog that I'll share with you tomorrow too. Til then, Mandy

swallows, herons, huia.

Early on in the week I went back to one of my favourite birdwatching spots on the river, the rocky outcrop behind the Whakatane Yacht Club. At first there didn't appear to be much around but then I could hear the distinctive croaking of white-faced heron. There was two of them on the roof and it became apparent they were a pair, their breeding plumage all puffed up. (The longer narrow feathers on the back.)

They flew down to the waters edge so I found a dry spot on the rock and sat down with my camera. They began feeding until a second male landed and was soon chased away by the first male. I was lucky that they were pre-occupied and took no notice of me. Later they wandered quite close and I was able to get some nice photos.

One of the best ways to photograph birds is to sit quietly in an area where they are feeding and just wait. If you are patient enough the birds will wander close and you will be rewarded with some opportunities for great shots.

The family of swallows nesting in our carport has been a source of interest over the last week or so. The babies grew so fast. Soon they could barely fit in the nest and I could see three fat chicks with yellow baby-beaks waiting keenly for their parents to return with beaks full of flying insects to eat. But one shrill screech of warning from a parent bird and they would press themselves into the bottom of the nest in an effort to hide. One day I realised they had taken off and were having flying lessons from Mum and Dad. Just short excursions at first then back to the nest. Then they went a little further afield and would land on the clothesline, watching their parents swooping and diving over their heads. Within a day or two they had almost mastered the speed and aerobatics needed to do what swallows do although they returned to the nest at nights. I'm amazed at how quickly they learnt to fly. The whole family of five were hunting for insects in the paddock, alighting on the fence and the only way I could tell them apart was that the babies had slightly shorter tails.

The Opotiki Art Society has an exhibition on at the moment. I only have one painting in it as I have lots of commissions to finish before Christmas. It is another painting of a pair of Huias.