We are lucky to have so many wildlife opportunities within an easy 20 minute drive from where we live. The Pauatahanui Wildlife Reserve is one of the best. Every visit produces different images, different birds, different light. It never gets boring!
The pied stilts drew our attention almost as soon as we got set up in our hides in the bushes. The number of birds flying in made for an entertaining show of territorial squabbles. The two above were just about to attack when this image was taken. I like to think of them dancing as it is so much nicer.
One of the smallest most secretive birds at the wetland made an appearance for us. The spotless crake or pūweto are so tiny and fast and they like to make sure it is safe to come our before leaving the safety of the reeds and raupo. It was out hope to be able to see the juveniles as well as the adult birds, however they stayed hidden in the raupo.
It is a good thing they did stay hidden as on the other side of the pond was a pukeko with two hungry chicks. As soon as the pukeko saw the pūweto, it hid the chicks and headed over at a brisk pace in search of dinner for the young ones. Sadly the pukeko was successful in scaring the shy little pūweto back into the rushes where it was safe and we didn’t see them again. I am pleased to say the pukeko didn’t move fast enough and dinner got away.
In between photographing the bird action, I took the time to look around me. I saw a pair of eyes looking at me over a flax leaf. It took me a few minutes to identify it as a cicada as it was some distance away. The zoom lens helped with the identification. After that I saw more cicadas around me that I had missed previously. They do make an interesting image. I hope you have enjoyed this collection of images from the pond.
