This time last year…

blog-20140302-IMG_9489This time last year I had just purchased my 7D and was finally getting some decent shots at the kingfishers. It was the start of a year long obsession to get the perfect kingfisher image.  I am still obsessed with that goal but there have been many obstacles along the way. Between March and June last year there were a large number of kingfishers at our usual haunt and at the time I didn’t realise just how lucky I was to have such great opportunities presented to me.  blog-20140302-IMG_9496In July and August we went on an overseas trip and had a couple of earthquakes that shook things up, followed by a rather bad storm.  Since then the numbers of kingfishers appear to have dropped dramatically.  I keep going back in the hope that things will change and the numbers will increase with the current breeding season’s completion but I am not seeing that yet. There are still kingfishers out there but I only ever seem to see two or three out at any given time and they are not so keen to perch close to us any more.  One reason I suspect is that there is someone constantly dragging one of their favoured perches back above the high tide line. A few of us photographers are putting it back out each time we go there but I suspect the constant moving of it is unsettling to the birds. blog-20140302-IMG_9695 I wish whoever is doing it would just leave it alone and let the birds settle. I am not about to give up on the kingfishers yet, I am planning another year with them at the very least. At the end of that period of time… who knows.  Maybe I will publish a book!  This last image was a bunch of spoonbills that we passed on the way home. I couldn’t resist stopping and grabbing a shot from the car.

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