Frequent Flying at Zealandia

Male Hihi (Stitchbird)

We went back to Zealandia today even though there was light rain when we were heading out. It was a little chilly for a while and the seats were a bit wet to sit on for rests but otherwise it turned out to be a brilliant day. We arrived at the Kaka feeders just after they had been fed and there were a huge number of them jumping about and arguing with each other. I wasn't going to bother with them today but I couldn't resist stopping for a few minutes.

Kaka

We walked up to the Discovery area where there are always lots of Hihi (Stitchbird)'s and we weren't disappointed. They flittered about around us between the trees and the feeders hardly ever stopping long enough for me to click the shutter. I thought the Fantails were the teases of the trees, but they have nothing on the Hihi There were bellbirds and robins there as well. The robin decided I must have something good in my camera bag so took a bit of time to check it out.

Male Hihi (Stitchbird)

North Is Robin

We took the boat on the way back and were lucky enough to have it to ourselves. There were no shags sitting on the raft which was a shame but there were a few playing about in the water that I managed to get a few shots of. Michael (the boat operator) was most accommodating after seeing my camera. He unzipped the plastic windows and turned the boat this way and that, and backed off for me when he got too close to the birds. He pointed out all the birds of interest and their nests along the way. A real treat!

Pateke and duckling

Pateke and duckling

Pied shag playing about in the water

More from Hamilton Zoo

Yesterday I was talking about being at the Hamilton Zoo. Today is more of the same, however it is focused totally on the birds and the large walk in aviary. While I was there one of the zoo keepers came in to refill the feeding stations and she saw me photographing one of the Kereru. She pointed out to me that he was a little ugly around the head because some time ago he had flown into the netting and damaged himself.  He is now perfectly healthy; however his head feathers never grew back the same. He was however very keen to pose for the camera!

 

The white-faced heron was also quite happy to pose for the camera, so long as there was a mouse for him at the end of it. After being given one treat (mouse) he followed the zoo keeper about in the hope of getting a second one that she was carrying around. Of course he succeeded. He was fun to watch as he grabbed the mouse and then ran down the walkway to eat it in peace.

There were lots of kakariki in the aviary, both red faced and green. They were a bit more stand offish but when there was fresh food to be had they didn’t seem to mind coming in a bit closer. It was about this time that my card was full on the camera and I was busy changing it as two kingfishers flew to the ground at my feet fighting each other. I did my best to get the camera back together in time to photograph them but alas they were too quick or I was too slow.

The light in the aviary was quite dark and I did struggle with this a bit. I missed some awesome photos by having the settings not quite right for the light. There was a pair of kokako flitting about in front of me and trust me when I tell you they move fast! I didn't get the shot I wanted but I did get one or two.

 All the while I was sitting there watching and photographing the birds, I had a pesky kaka trying his best to get on my shoulder. If I shooed him away once I did it a dozen times but he kept coming back. In the end, thankfully, he decided my husband’s shoulder was much more interesting and started smooching about in his beard. The kaka was happy, not sure about the husband!

Zealandia

Last Sunday there was a break in the weather for a short while so we headed off to Zealandia. It was still a bit windy but nothing like the day before. I am still getting the hang of using my big lens at Zealandia as it is quite dark in the bush. I ended up resorting to using flash in the end.

Another day at Zealandia

Over the last few weeks there have been several really great images of the New Zealand falcon posted by Hutt Camera Club members on Facebook . Being a keen bird photographer I asked where the images were shot and promptly took myself there as soon as I could.  It turns out that the falcons are currently nesting at Zealandia and it is possible to get reasonably close to them. So a friend and I ventured off to have an attempt at getting our own great images of them.

New Zealand Falcon

The falcons share nesting duties and typically swap places on an hourly basis. Of course the first day we were there they were obviously unable to tell the time! We stood around and waited for the change over for about two hours before giving up. On our second trip the following week I managed to get these shots. The falcons have hatched one chick this year, I am keen to see it when it leaves the nest.

New Zealand Falcon

New Zealand Falcon

Further down the path the New Zealand robin (see previous post) was hoping about in the branches along the side of the path so we stopped and photographed that too. While we were with the robin a couple of saddlebacks played around in the bush beside us, staying just out of reach of the cameras. The saddlebacks are very hard to capture as they move about so fast and in areas where there is little light.

Saddleback

The feeding stations are great places to stop and photograph the birds. The kaka are particularly fun to watch as they prance about doing their thing. They are just so busy and boisterous, and you can see a very distinct pecking order of the birds around the feeding station. The smaller birds stayed back and waited their turn or scavenged off the ground, letting the kaka and tui have their fill first.

Bellbird

Bellbird

Kaka

I have been to Zealandia many times and never until this visit had I managed to see the tuatara out. I was definitely excited to see on the notice board that someone had spotted them just an hour before so hurried to the right number post and there it was. Unfortunately its position next to a plastic drainage pipe was not great for photography (see previous post) but I saw the tuatara!! On my next visit the same tuatara was out in the same spot still next to the plastic pipe!

Pied Shag

We also took the time to ride in the little electric boat they have there. This gave me the opportunity to photograph the pied shags without needing a huge piece of glass on my camera. The shags are quite used to the boat moving around and happily posed for the photos. We were also able to get almost underneath the tree they were nesting in. One doesn't want to get right underneath for obvious reasons...

Pied Shag

Pied Shag

Pied Shag

Pied Shags Nesting

Zealandia

The Trip to Napier

I am writing up the trip from back to front, not to confuse you but because that is how I am processing the photos. Upper Hutt to Clive, where we were staying, is a little over a four hour drive – it took us almost nine hours!  Not because we got lost or anything silly like that, but because we made lots of stops. We stopped in Greytown and had morning tea. Then we walked the main street to have a look at the shops. There were some really interesting shops there but we were strong and didn’t spend much. Just one small glass Christmas decoration was purchased to add to the tree this year. Our next stop was in Masterton, once again checking out the shops.

Kaka on flax

After Masterton we stopped in at Mt Bruce Reserve. We paid our $15 each and walked around the bush trying to photograph any birds we saw along our way. We weren’t much interested in the aviaries as it is too difficult to photograph them without the netting interfering with the shot. There were some fantails that followed us around, flitting from branch to branch staying just long enough for us to ALMOST focus on them, then moving again. Most frustrating! We saw plenty of tui but once again didn’t manage to get any decent images of them. So we gave up and had lunch in the café

Kaka feeding from flax flowers

It wasn’t until we were about to leave that we really had some fun with the cameras – out in the car park!! There were both kaka and tui feeding on the flax flowers right in the car park. We needn’t have spent the money to go in, we could have gotten all the shots we wanted right there in front of the building. We decided to try doing just that on the way home but unfortunately the weather had turned and the birds were no where to be seen.

We stopped to photograph a horse that looked like it was posing especially for us. It was still in the same position when we were driving home two days later. If we hadn’t seen it walk around the paddock we might have been thinking it wasn’t real! The last place we stopped before getting to Clive was Waipukurau where we once again walked about looking at the shops. They had some sort of a market day happening and each shop had a display from their favourite musical. Some of the staff had also dressed up into their chosen theme. By the time we finally reached the motel we were ready to collapse in front of the TV with a glass of wine and relax – and we did just that!