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One of my favourite places to photograph kotare (the NZ sacred kingfisher) is the West End beach rock pools. From early Autumn the kotare migrate to the coast looking for food in the rock pools and can be seen in reasonable numbers at low tide. I often see ten or more of them foraging in the rock pools just along from West End beach. The best time to go is when low tide occurs at sunrise so you get the kotare lit up by the beautiful warm tones of the morning sun. And of course its also a good pl …

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 …

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 …

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 li …

Every day, the extraordinary beauty of this existence opens herself upand gives herself as a giftLet's work together to preserve that gift.We've had a couple of clear fine mid winter days with a new fall of snow on the mountain. Frosty mornings and cold days with Taranaki standing out crisp and clear in the winter sunshine.  I went for a walk along the beach from Bell Block to the Waiongana river mouth at low tide yesterday hoping to find some New Zealand dotterel which have a nesting site …