Stationary, and not

Gulls, Muriwai, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2020

Although the weather’s turned a bit meh, our craving for fish and chips got the better of us last night. And the fact that the best place to buy them is two thirds of the way between our house and Muriwai Beach meant that a picnic was in order.

As usual, within about three seconds of us opening the wrapping, the birds arrived. First the sparrows, then the gulls. And while the sparrows just hop up as close as they dare and look pleadingly, these gulls tried the alternate approaches of dive-bombing and studied nonchalance.

Neither worked. And the food was delicious.

Ragtag Daily Prompt | stationary

Elusive

Tui feeding in kowhai tree. Image: Su Leslie 2019

Maybe I’m stretching the definition of elusive a bit here. Tui are abundant in our garden at the moment, with record numbers feeding on the kowhai, flax and fuchsia in the neighbourhood.

Photographing them is a different matter. Today is the first time I’ve managed to get close enough to focus my lens on the birds and not just the foliage.

Images: Su Leslie 2019

Ragtag Daily Prompt | elusive

A casualty of someone’s fishing trip

Pied Shag with fish-hook and line embedded in its neck. Injuries caused by discarded fishing line and hooks are amongst the most common and serious for sea-birds. Image: Su Leslie 2019

Six Word Saturday

All lined up

Seagulls, Herald Island Wharf, Auckland, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2019

There are always a couple of renegades — wonder what they see?

Ragtag Daily Prompt | line

Distinguished

Hisan, an adolescent karearea or native falcon, seen at Wingspan Birds of Prey Trust, Rotorua, NZ. Image: Su Leslie 2017

Hisan, adolescent karearea, or NZ native falcon. Image: Su Leslie 2017

Karearea, like most native birds in Aotearoa New Zealand, evolved in the absence of humans and other mammal predators. These days, their survival is threatened by widespread habitat loss and degradation, cats, stoats and possums which eat their eggs, deliberate killings by humans, and electrocution, which happens when they land on un-insulated power lines.

Like so many species, the very survival of these beautiful, distinguished-looking birds is threatened, despite the work of several organisations dedicated to birds of prey preservation.

Posted to the Ragtag Daily Prompt | distinguished

References:

Wingspan Birds of Prey Trust

Department of Conservation: NZ Falcon/Karearea

Regular Random: five minutes with some sparrows

I’m not a huge fan of sparrows, but it was quite entertaining watching a little posse of them brazenly trying to share my lunch recently.

Regular Random is a photo challenge hosted by Desley Jane at Musings of a Frequently Flying Scientist. Please pop over and take a look;  and if you’d like to join in:

• choose a subject or a scene
• spend five minutes photographing it – no more!
• try to not interfere with the subject, instead see it from many angles, look through something at it, change the light that’s hitting it
• have fun!
• tag your post #regularrandom and ping back to Desley’s post.

 

“You have food? Seriously? We hadn’t noticed”

It may not look like it, but these guys were very busy trying to catch some crumbs of my lunch, while trying to look totally indifferent to it.

Posted to the Ragtag Daily Prompt | busy

Leisurely breakfast

Kereru (wood pigeon) in ti kouka (cabbage tree). Image: Su Leslie 2019

I almost didn’t reach for my camera when a kereru swooped down on our cabbage tree this morning.

Normally by the time I’ve got the lens cap off and focused the camera, the bird has flown.

But not today.

The fruit must have been very appetizing because I actually had time to swap lenses and capture a bunch of shots before I had to dash off to an appointment.

Kereru (native wood pigeon) in ti kouka (cabbage tree). Image: Su Leslie 2019

 

Quench

Thirsty seagull? Image: Su Leslie 2018

Posted to Ragtag Daily Prompt |quench

Bird-watching

Gannets, Muriwai Gannet Colony, Auckland, NZ. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

Despite an abundance of native birds (mainly tui, kereru and fantails) nesting around my neighbourhood, I’m generally not great at capturing photos of them.

The gannet colony at Muriwai is another story though. With many thousands of birds nesting on the cliffs, it’s inevitable that some will build their nests close to the walkway. They seem very relaxed about the hordes of humans who come to gawk at them, though I suspect that’s mainly because we flightless ones seem reasonably capable of staying behind the fence.

Gannet, Muriwai gannet colony, NZ. Image: Su Leslie, 2016

Nesting gannets, Muriwai gannet colony, NZ. Image: Su Leslie, 2016

Nesting gannets, Muriwai gannet colony, NZ. Image: Su Leslie, 2016

Perched on a rock above the Tasman Sea, one of the colony of gannets currently nesting at Muriwai, New Zealand. Image: Su Leslie, 2016

Breeding season has begun again for the gannets, and I will undoubtedly spend some early mornings clutching my camera and enjoying the sight of these majestic birds.

And I’m overdue for another visit to the wonderful Wingspan Birds of Prey Trust, which does such great work helping to ensure the survival of New Zealand’s native birds of prey. Hisan, the juvenile karearea, or falcon, shown above was photographed almost two years ago and will have flown off from his perch one day and not returned. Hopefully to make a home, and breed, somewhere in the forests nearby.

Hisan, a juvenile NZ falcon. Seen at the Wingspan Birds of Prey Centre, Rotorua, NZ. Image: Su Leslie, 2016

Hisan, juvenile Karearea, at Wingpsan Birds of Prey Centre, Rotorua. Image: Su Leslie

And explanation to the audience before Hisan was released. Image: Su Leslie, 2016

Making short work of it. Hisan the Karearea snacking on rabbit. Image: Su Leslie, 2016

Posted to the Ragtag Daily Promt | bird