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In New Plymouth, the foreshore rock pools are a great place to see kingfisher (New Zealand Sacred Kingfisher or Kotare) during Autumn and winter. The kingfisher tend to congregate along the coast during winter months as it gets harder to find food inland over this period. For the last couple of days, low tide has been at sunrise making it ideal conditions to get photos of the kingfisher among the rock pools lit up by the warm tones of the morning sun.West end beach has been my favourite palce to …

We are very much blessed with the public reserves and parks in New Plymouth with Pukekura park being one of the best. It's a beautiful and picturesque park with the lakes and bush walks up into the valley past the bowl of brooklands.  There's plenty of bird life about and I nearly always take a camera when Catherine and I go for a walk there. We often stop to watch the sparrows bathing in the water lillies on the lake at the bowl of brooklands. Yesterday three goldfinch turned up and joined …

I've been wanting to get some more photos of a swamp harrier or kahu (also known as the Australasian harrier) for a while.  We regularly see them hovering over our garden and in the valley behind our house but normally by the time I've grabbed a camera they've soared too far away. THen suddenly this week became the week for potographing the harrier.First on Tuesday night when I was coming home from work, their was a harrier in the paddock beside the drive feeding on a rabbit. I managed to d …

Whenever I go to Wellington I always try and fit in a visit to Zealandia. Even without my interest in nature photography, I somply enjoy walking around the tracks in Zealandia and hearing the rich bird song and seeing the amazing abundance of native birds that are now thriving in this pest proof sanctuary.  Unfortunately on my last visit, the upper valley was closed due to work being undertaken on the power lines so I couldn't walk some of my favourite tracks so instead I did the valley vie …

The Pauatahanui wildlife reserve is becoming a great haven on Wellingtons doorstep for wetland birds. The pest eradication campaigns by DOC and Fores & Bird are showing great results which has enabled fernbirds to be translocated and established as well as other rare wetland birds such as the spotless crake and banded rail now turning up and moving in.I got the chance to spend a couple of mornings here during a recent visit to Wellington and though I didn't manage to see the spotless crakes or b …