Waiting for the tides to change

Juvenile Royal Spoonbill

I can't get out to the kingfishers this week due to the tides being all wrong and I am not enjoying the wait for them to be right again. My obsession is screaming at me to take more kingfisher photos yet when I follow the tides and go to Petone all I find is spoonbills. Crazy when only a few months ago I was complaining about not being able to photograph the spoonbills!

The kingfishers at Petone are wise to me. I did see one in the distance but it wasn't going to let my lens get anywhere near close enough to photograph it. So instead I sat and waited for something, anything to walk in front of my lens. The juvenile spoonbill was the first to arrive doing a special rain dance just for me.

Not long after the parent bird joined in and they worked in unison up and down the channel in search of food. Every now and then the young one would nip at the parent's leg and would get growled at for its efforts. It may be looking more and more like an adult bird but its behaviour is anything but.

I doubt that the camera will be out much this week because I have to admit I am bored with the Petone Estuary at the moment. I want kingfishers damn it and I want them where I want them! I know, I don't want much but next week I should be able to get back to Pauatahanui again and finger crossed the kingfishers will play nicely for me when I do get there.