Kingfishers At Dawn

A beautiful clear cold winter morning on Friday with a stunning sunrise from New Plymouths West End beach. After seeing the sunrise I had planned to head out to the Waiwhakaio river mouth to see what birds might be about but when I looked out over the foreshore at west end I saw lots of kotare (NZ sacred kingfisher) hunting in the rock pools so that's where I stayed for the next four hours.

It was one of those days where everything went right for photography, beautiful warm morning light, the kotare not seeming too concerned with my presence and often coming closer to me when I had sneaked up as close as I dared. I took so many shots that I flattened my camera battery and had to go back to the car to replace it before I could continue.

Below is a selection of shots including some of a little shag that was sunning itself on the rocks.