Kingfishers At Sunrise

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 look for kingfisher at this time of year so I spent a couple of hours there on Wednesday morning then on Thursday decided to see what I could find at the Kawaroa rock pools.

I always enjoy being out to watch the sunrise so grabbed some photos of the sunrise before turnign my attention to the kingfisher.

West End rock pools - Wednesday 24 April.

Sunrise at west end beach, looking over the reef at low tide.

Kingfisher on the end of the old sea wall just a few minutes after sunrise.

The early bird gets the early fish

Sitting amongst the tiny mussels in that beautiful warm morning light.

Crab for breakfast.

Silhouetted On Top Of The Rocks.

I saw at least six different king fishers hunting in the rock pools and managed to get this shot of four of them together. This shot is made up of three photos taken at different focal planes to capture the depth of field necessary to get all four kingfishers in focus.

This one let me get really close.

These above two photos are both of the same bird but with the light at a different angle bringing out different hues of green and blue.

Kawaroa rock pools - Thursday 25 April (Anazac Day).

The sun rising through the trees from the foreshore at Kawaroa.

Sunrise from the Kawaroa rock pools.

The rich warm colours of dawn - taken just a few seconds after sunrise

Another early morning shot with the sun just striking the rocks.

A small prawn for breakfast.

The early morning call.