The flax is in bloom right now and the tui are making a meal of it. They look a sight with their yellow makeup on – the pollen from the flax flowers covers their heads in bright yellow. I went back down to the inlet to check on the nest of pied stilt eggs – nothing hatched there as yet but all the other chicks were gone! I am sure there are nests somewhere because the stilts were flying above us as we walked up the track doing their best to scare us off. It didn’t work but I also didn’t go out of my way to upset them. The view from within the hide is sufficient. Today’s images though are focused on the tui. I actually managed to capture it in flight! This is not an easy task as the tui is a very quick mover. 
A few weeks ago I thought I might have a go at entering some international photographic salons. These do cost a bit but I was curious as to how my images would fare. The first competition I totally bombed out. It was a real learning curve. The second one I managed to gain one acceptance our of four entries, so this is a pretty good result. The only problem is I didn’t keep good records and can’t remember what the image was. I think next year when I do this again, I will make sure to keep good records of every entry!
