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I spent a couple of hours at Lake Mangamahoe earlier this week watching dozens of fantail/piwakawaka hunting insects over the water. Watching them fly and pluck insects off the surface of the lake is just amazing. Getting photographs of them flying over the water is quite a challenge though perseverance pays off. Out of dozens of shots of blurred birds and wings and tails vanishing out of the frame I managed to get a couple of decent shots.Also spotted a dabchick which was just within reach of m …

Here's a collection of birds spotted in our garden this week. The eastern rosellas are getting easier to spot now that the leaves have fallen. During summer we see them flying between trees and then just here them chattering away out of site so I was really pleased to get these shots of them in the top of our golden elm.  The pheasant has been particularly difficult to photograph. He's very wary, any hint of a movement to pick up a camera and he's off so I was really thrilled when I got thi …

I have always loved fantails or piwakawaka in Maori. I can remember, as a small child, sitting quietly in the bushy corners of my grandparents country garden watching fantails flitting around me catching insects. We have a healthy population of fantail in our garden and have seen a lot of young birds over this summer so it must have been a good breeding season. In a good season a pair of fantails can raise up to six broods. They are very nimble flyers and I have often been fascinated watchi …

We've had a lot of young fantails in the garden recently, chasing each other around and chattering away excitedly.  I spent an hour or so this morning following three of them around and managed to get in a few lucky photos as they paused for a few seconds in their game of tag.  The light was pretty poor so I was really pleased these came out as well as they did. …