Hikoikoi Reserve - Petone Estuary

The last post was from Sunday afternoon, so now we go back in time a few hours to Sunday morning. We followed the low tide to Petone and parked up by the boat sheds. One of them is currently for sale and it is an enticing possibility - however if given the choice of a boat shed or early retirement I am afraid the boat shed lost.

The light was not great with the sun shining in our faces and the birds were not playing fair either but I still managed to get a few shots.  We have positioned a new log for the kingfishers, hopefully next time we go down it is still there and the birds are using it. If they do it will make photographing them so much easier.

Seagulls...

 

It is very easy to forget about seagulls as photographic subjects but when there isn't much else around they can be very interesting to watch!  Yesterday I went down to the Petone Estuary for a short while and the seagulls were doing some really weird stuff. Not what I have seen seagulls doing before that's for sure.

The gulls were actually leaping into the air and then diving head first under the water and fishing for crabs. I didn't see many of them actually find the crabs, often they would resurface with nothing but a leaf in their beak.  The ones that did find the crabs had trouble holding on to them once caught - several crabs managed to live another day albeit minus a leg or two.

Respecting space

Juvenile spoonbill

There are a lot of nature photographers that frequent my usual haunts and for the most part they are a friendly considerate bunch. We may not all know each other but we will usually wave 'hello' or get into a discussion about the birds that are about and where to find them. 

We are also very careful not to upset the birds in their natural environment. We are observers and as such shouldn't make the birds uncomfortable with our presence. Royal Spoonbills I have noticed along with the White-faced Herons have a very definite 'space' and if you breach it in any way that's it they are gone.

Spoonbills over the far side of the lagoon.

Last evening I took my camp chair and parked myself at the Petone Estuary. I find that if I just sit and wait the birds will cease to see me as a threat and will come to me. It is way better than chasing them from one side of the lagoon to the other and way less stressful on the birds. I saw the spoonbills over the other side of the lagoon happily feeding and figured if I wait long enough they would make their way over.  Then a few minutes later I see another photographer all dressed in green with his tripod and camera scare the birds away in his attempt to get close to them.

In flight after being scared off.

To say I was annoyed was an understatement, as the birds flew off into the distance I decided I would have to make do with the gulls and oyster catchers. The other photographer headed off in the direction the spoonbills took and I didn't see him or the spoonbills again for a while.

Juvenile spoonbill

After about thirty minutes of sitting and watching, I was lucky enough to have the juvenile spoonbill and it's parent fly in to start feeding in the water nearby. I was in photographer's heaven when the other three adult birds joined them - right in front of me!

The four adult spoonbills

I clicked away happily enjoying their closeness thinking I should share this wonder. I rang friend and fellow photographer suggesting that she come down and bring her camera with her.

Adult spoonbill catching shrimp

Between calling my friend and her arriving, the other photographer dressed in green had followed the spoonbills to where I was. He walked past me and then set himself up in the bush above where the birds were feeding. Way to close for them to be comfortable as was plain to see by the way they instantly started moving away. Once they were out of reach of his lens and mine, (they flew back to the other side of the lagoon) he packed up and set about following them back to the other side to repeat the exercise.

Adult and juvenile spoonbill

Eventually he left, the spoonbills returned to feeding where we were still sitting, and both myself and my friend managed to get some great shots. I am still annoyed about the unnecessary stress placed on the birds - being chased from one end of the estuary to the other - and the fact that the other photographer didn't give a toss that he might be ruining someone else's chances at photographing them.

Still water provided a mirror image

Camping out...

 
The weather is overcast and light rain from time to time but as it is our holidays it was hard to say no when a friend suggested we go out with the cameras. We chose Petone Estuary and went pretty much prepared for anything. Camp chairs for comfort (because we are patient and wait for the birds to come to us), light stands to hold up our umbrellas (to shade us from the sun or shelter us from the rain) and the odd rock or two as a foot stool.

Our patience paid off when a couple of white faced herons wandered over our way and entertained us with their fishing antics. There was the odd seagull silly enough to think we had food for them, an oyster catcher that was missing a foot, but the highlight of the day was the Royal Spoonbill that showed no fear of us at all and happily wandered around our camp feeding on the weed.

When the tide moved further out so did we. We picked up the chairs and moved out onto the seaweed in the middle of the lagoon in the hope of getting a better view. I think the only people getting a better view were those on the bridge laughing at us. Even the birds laughed at us. Must have really been quite a sight ;)

Sitting at the beach...

I woke up this morning to brilliant sunshine streaming through the windows. We had already decided that today was to be a day of doing very little so that I could stay off my feet and rest them. My ankles have not been too good just lately and I wanted them in good condition for the nature workshop I am doing tomorrow at Zealandia. But the sun was shining and I so wanted to be out with my big lens on such a perfect day!

Mallard duck and ducklings

So I came up with the idea of taking my new camping chair to the Petone Estuary and sitting with my camera.  I wasn’t going to go looking for birds; I was just going to wait for them to come to me. Best idea I have had in a long time! The tide had turned and was on its way out, but there was still a lot of water about and very few birds. So I sat and watched. Within minutes I saw what I can only describe as a duck train! Mother duck and a train of ducklings following close behind – very cute.

Red Billed Gull

The gulls were the first to arrive as the tide receded, I noted several different species of gulls, both red billed and black billed gulls were fishing side by side. Next came the Caspian Tern. It landed on the start of the sand bar and waited. It was still waiting an hour later when the water was almost totally gone. I was starting to make up stories for it – I could imagine it had said to a fellow tern “meet you at the sand bar”, and it had been stood up. Another hour waiting and it finally decided to have a fly about, but having found no other terns, went back to waiting. I felt sorry for the lonely tern.

Caspian Tern with wings spread

Next to arrive at the Estuary was the oyster catchers. I have never really watched them before but one by one they all carried out the same little routine. Fly in and land, then take a bath. Meticulous care was taken on the wing feathers before splashing about one more time, then getting on to feeding themselves. It was almost like they just had to be looking their best for the camera.

Oyster Catchers

Oyster Catcher

The grey heron put in an appearance next. It wandered up and down the beach in front of me, stirring up the water with one foot them diving its head into the water to grab any unsuspecting crab that showed itself.  I didn’t spend too much time watching the grey heron as it wasn’t doing anything unusual and you can have only so many heron photos.

Grey Heron

Next up came the swans! This was indeed a surprise for me as I have never seen the swans here before. I knew they were there from time to time but never when I personally have been there. Four of them casually swam in feeding along the way on the weeds in the water. They stayed for a bit then left just as gracefully as they arrived.

Black Swans

The last of the birds to arrive was the starlings. LOTS of starlings. They strutted around amongst the oyster catchers, often getting squawked at for getting too close. The sun showed off their stunning colours as they pecked about on the sand bar.

One of the birds that I really wanted to catch in flight was the kingfishers. Today I saw one pair in the distance flitting about but none where I was sitting. I had purposely sat where I knew the kingfishers usually were but they chose today of all days to go elsewhere. Never mind, there is a lot of summer to come for me to catch up with the kingfishers again.

Playing With Gulls

Today the weather was turning sour and the wind was up. The tides just weren't right and the birds were all off hiding somewhere. All except the seagulls.