Kōtare (Sacred Kingfisher), Tīeke (Saddleback) and Pīwakawaka (Fantail) all shot in the space of 1 hour or so.

Taking a fast break at breakfast, the spotted dove was not happy to see me. One chance, once shot.

A glaring midday sun at the bay, not great for capturing the Sacred Kingfisher, but got this guy instead. Not a happy face.

Just another ordinary day at Albany Lakes, just outside the mall. Not enough people appreciate this reserve as some of the water features include shopping trolleys and general refuse. This doesn’t support the ‘clean green’ image that Aotearoa New Zealand would like to be known for.

Shots taken at dusk between 7:30pm and 8:30pm at Shakespeare Reserve. A small window of opportunity.

These images are from the little urban park next to my house. Literally a 1 minute walk. It’s a quiet little reserve with a small stand of trees and a walkway that goes halfway through. The reserve is often frequented by rosellas, finches, and magpies.

Long Bay continues to provide a raft of birding opportunities. The blackbird was happy to sit and pose for a few good shots, presumably keeping guard – the smears of squished worm on his beak (which I erased in post production) suggested he’d just fed the kids.

The quail were a nice suprise on the way home. Pictured are a male (black chin, crown and tall plume, grey and brown body) and a female (shorter plume, no facial markings, and mostly brown).

Here’s two of my top pics from a walk at Long Bay Reserve, on Auckland’s North Shore. Featuring a very healthy and solid looking Kereru, and lone White-faced Heron hunting for brunch.

These images are from a weekend trip down into the South Waikato. It was great to see the Welcome Swallows getting amourous, and the male coots defending their choice in partner. Prior to heading back to Auckland, a pair of swans protectively hovered around their cygnets, but were trusting enough for me to get some shots.

Here’s similar, minus the face full of grass and with a bit of image styling.

This Hihi (stitchbird) is one of three I managed to capture at the Shakespeare Regional Park open reserve on a warm Sunday afternoon. I originally went there hunting for Kakariki but wasn’t lucky enough to see one.

The Hihi were calling to eachother, easily giving away their location. It’s nesting time soon, so hoping to see some chics at some stage.

A short visit to Long Bay, on Auckland’s North Shore to capture some Tui, after having shot some Rosellas in the morning.

I also had a lovely experience with the Pukeko family, mum, dad and three chics. One of the chics came out to feed off grass seed with mother. While getting shots of the chic, father came to check out why I was lying on the ground, and to make sure I would stay away from baby.

An outing on a Saturday morning with a small group from the North Shore Photographic Society to go and photograph some birds. There were plenty to see.

All shots with a 180-600mm zoom plus a 2x teleconverter taking it up to 1200mm. That combo makes it hard to get enough light into the camera, so pumping up the ISO was absolutely necessary.

Here’s my Friday lunch-time shots. I don’t often get the chance to do some photography during work hours, but the shooting location was local enough. Great to see some spoonbills, white-faced heron and sacred kingfisher out and about doing their thing.

These shots of the Sacred Kingfisher are my second-ever attempt at getting some decent shots. Patience is a must, and so is a responsive trigger – because at the moment they leave their perch it’s usually a crab that’s got their attention. Be ready to shoot!

Here’s me practicing waving my camera around at the beach. Gulls might not be all that glamourous, but that are nice subjects and great practice to get your reflexes going.

This little waxeye was just hangin’ in the cherry tree in our back yard. Luck more than anything. I actually used a 600mm focal length with a macro extension tube to shoot this.