Wading Bird and other NZ pics

[Paikea]

During a trip to NZ in 2009 we hired a car and drove down from Auckland to Wellington then across to the South Island where we drove down to Bluff then back up to Greymouth then train across the Alps to Christchurch then flew back to Aus. Along the way I had numerous photo opportunities including birds who are one of my favourite subjects.

I particularly like wading birds and had earlier managed to get what I thought were some unique pics of a wading bird in a marsh plus its nest with eggs some distance away. I was chuffed to get those shots and framed copies of them now hang in my office.

I used a Canon 300D EOS with a Sigma 135 - 400mm, 1:45 - 5.6 Tele Lens which is relatively fool proof (just as well as I am in no way expert in taking pics).

The third pic was taken at the Dunedin Albatross Rookery and shows a young Cormorant (I think that is what it is) precariously sitting on a tiny rocky ledge waiting for its mum to return and feed it. The ledge was a long way from where I was taking the pic and the air was full of salt spray. (That is my excuse for the pic not being as sharp as I would have liked)

I tried to get pics of an Albatross on the wing but very very difficult as they swoop over the hill and down. The pic here is the best that I got. They have an enormous wingspan. The rookery is well worth visiting although at the time I was already having problems with my knee and found the walking a bit testing.

The final pic was taken on a road running along the coast where locals have what they call their "Batch" which is a small cabin used when they go fishing etc.. The boat was called Lotus Eater  I just loved the classic name on a very photogenic wreck. I tried to find the boat on our last visit to NZ but to no avail.

I hope the attached pics may be of interest to fellow travellers.

Cheers

Paikea

(Hank)

[meppstas]

Nothing wrong at all with those photos..    It's never easy getting a photo of a bird on the wing..
they're great and thanks for sharing them with us, yes that's a young Cormorant...

Also love the photo of the old boat slowly rotting away.. looks nice with the plants etc around it..

 I have a Canon 700D EOS & still trying to get the hang of it, trouble is I don't use it often enough & I won't take it to the rivers in case I drown it..
 also it's too large to take trout fishing any way..


cheers
Adrian