It’s been wet, wild and wintery the last few days, and I like to remind myself that spring is around the corner with photos of baby animals from last year. So here we have a black swan (Cygnus atratus) with cygnet. The black swan has a rather confusing history in New Zealand. Black swans are [...]
Motueka
This is the little shag (Phalacrocorax melanoleucos). It’s quite a bit smaller than the pied shag, at 56-58 cm long, compared to the pied shag’s 65-85 cm. The little shag is found throughout New Zealand’s coastal areas and the population is thought to be between 5000 and 10,000 pairs. Little shags like to feed in [...]
This is yesterday’s robin mistaking the camera pack’s zipper for a worm. Uh, no, it’s firmly attached to the bag, not to mention indigestible. But she did have a good go.
Robins (Petroica australis australis) are curious things, and they can get pretty bold, even when the subject of their interest is considerably larger than themselves. This robin is checking out the camera pack with attached flask. Hey, you never know where a delicious worm might be hiding!
What I love about this photo is the detail in the feathers, especially around her chest patch. Males robins (Petroica australis australis) have a much more clearly demarked chest patch that goes right up to its neck, whereas the girls have more of a splotch. All robins, whether male or female, adopt quite a quizzical [...]
This South Island robin (Petroica australis australis) was nice company on a late winter walk up to the Riuwaka Resurgence. The robin’s genus name, Petroica, comes from the Greek for rock (petro) and home (oikos), because the birds like to sit on rocks. Hmm, this Petroica species is a forest dweller and doesn’t show a [...]
This fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa fuliginosa) hiding behind the fern was a little bit reluctant about having its photo taken. This was taken on a misty morning up the Riwaka Valley Road, on the track to the Riuwaka Resurgence. It was one of two fantails flitting near the track, always behind something, too focused on bug-catching [...]
The tuft of white feathers on a tui’s throat is called a poi, and this one is giving his poi a good shake belting out its song. Tui are nectar and seed eaters and so are important in the propagation of many New Zealand native plants.
Wingspan-wise, the Caspian tern (Hydroprogne caspia) is around the same size as the black-backed gull. The Caspian tern is not only New Zealand’s largest tern species, it is also the world’s largest tern species. The black cap and black legs are typical of adults, although the black cap will fade to grey outside of the [...]
It’s the start of August, which means that a month from now, spring! will be here. And somewhere around the second week of spring, eastern bar-tailed godwits (Limosa lapponica baueri) start arriving in Motueka, after travelling from their western Alaska breeding grounds. During that entire trip, they don’t stop. At all. For six to eight [...]
