The Tui

For ages I had been chasing tui around with my camera. They land on the trees outside our house but by the time I get the camera out they are gone - sitting just out of reach of the lens calling out to me. I have even gone places where there were lots of tui in the trees thinking I just need to get close enough to get the perfect shot. However if they are in a fast moving mood that perfect shot is not going to be achieved.

So I was really surprised on a trip to the Auckland zoo, when I was NOT looking for tui, to see one sitting posing for the camera and luckily I had it ready. I finally had my perfect tui image and I didn't even have to go hunting to find it. These photos were taken while waiting for the rest of our party to catch us up and it was a sheer fluke that we were even at that spot waiting. We were not in an avairy, or enclosure of any kind, these birds are free flying natives of New Zealand.