Petone Estuary

There is an abundance of bird life at the Petone Estuary at low tide - I have yet to go there and come away without at least one decent image. There is a resident white heron (kotuku) by the boat sheds, a grey heron that comes in from time to time, lots of kingfishers (kotare), and the usual bunch of gulls, sparrows, and finches. These images were all shot within one hour just before low tide.

Kotuku - White Heron

Finally I managed to see the white heron at the Petone Estuary. Apparently the bird is very tame as the boat shed owners often feed it fish. So tame that it just walks right on into the sheds if the doors are left open. Some of them have put up gates to keep it out, others are happy for it to make itself at home there. At night it settles into a boat that is outside one of the sheds, the locals tell me that the heron has claimed the boat as its own. The light was not terrific for these photos but I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to photograph the heron.