We went for a walk around the reserve today and came away with more knowledge about the area than we had before. A local man was checking the traps and was telling us all about the things Forest and Bird, and DOC are doing to the area. We learnt about fern birds and their calls and for the first time ever I got to both hear and see one. As yet I have not captured one with the camera but it should be easier now I can recognise their calls.
We didn’t see many small birds around and we assume the hawk circling above had plenty to do with that. Again, it was too fast for me to get a close enough image of but it was a beauty to watch. When there are no birds I always look around to see what else I can make into an image with the lens I have on my camera. This time it was the wild carrot flower and a lily.
After the hawk flew off we finally saw a few fantails and warblers, even a kingfisher put in an appearance briefly. I was hoping for more shining cuckoos but alas we didn’t even hear one.
We are so lucky living in the Wellington Region, the huge efforts to trap the native birds predators as increased the amount of birdlife and made it such an awesome place for bird photography. We really are spoilt for choice when it comes time to choose where to go next.