Kiwiblog

A bit belated this morning, but Autumn can deliver clear mornings where the sunrise is appealing.

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To get that sun-burst effect, the trick is to close the aperture down a lot.  I picked this site so the vegetation would produce a natural frame for the image (and give more ‘depth’ to the photo)

“Preparing to launch”

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It’s an estuarine crocodile, getting into the water. Liked the shot for the low angle, the reflection in the water and the colour scheme of the scales.  I miss being around crocodiles…

It’s into the world of beetles today & that famous gardener’s friend:

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It’s been a glorious morning watch the sun rise over a very still Hauraki Gulf.  Hope you all have a pleasant day too.

Sticking with the birds today- an Australian fig eater- the bird has just started on its task of converting the fruit into digestible chunks. (I liked the way the bird’s colours matched the background)

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Hope everyone is getting some relief from the humidity today. Coffee is beckoning me now however…

Today’s shot is of a slightly damp fantail at dusk. It had been feeding off insects congregating around a small pond.

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Despite the fact they’re quite common, their quick agile actions & small size make them challenging to photograph.

Finally back in the world of computers so have the chance to upload some new photos.

This is a macro shot of an insect synonymous with summer – Maori name is kihikihi IIRC.

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Now, off to find some coffee and unlock the secrets of the universe Hope everyone’s had a good week & anticipating a better weekend.

Thought we’d try a 3 for 1 deal this morning  It’s a stitched photo of a sea eagle in flight.

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Hope you all have a good day today. You can presume that coffee will be an ever present feature of mine

Something sunny for this morning. A cattle egret.

Today there’s a “work do”, so I suspect I’ll be replacing coffee with alcohol today.

Hope you all have a good day too.

This morning’s venture is funnily enough, a morning shot. Somedays it’s rewarding to sit back & watch the sun rise. For a few short minutes the sky glowed an orange-yellow hue, before fading as the sun rose higher.

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Hoping Friday finds you all well.

Well, having indulged in the feathery creatures for a bit, I thought a bit of variety would be nice. Here’s an estuarine  crocodile finding a shady spot to rest. I liked it for the reflection in the water, and the colouring of the scales. It is of course, taken up in the Northern Territory of Australia.

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Going to be another busy day here. I predict much espressos in my near future. Hope everyone else has a good day.

Haven’t forgotten, just pretty rushed this morning.

In contrast to our furtive NZ birds, Australian birds are a little easier to photograph. I opened the lens wide to make the head the focal point of the shot.

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Ok… going to need a lot of coffee this morning. Hope every body has a good end-of-week.

One of our smallest native birds- the Gray Warbler. They’re surprisingly easy to hear, & surprisingly challenging to get close enough to photograph.

Riroriro

Looks like the rain has arrived in Auckland, so plans today look like hunkering down with a ongoing supply of coffee.

In deference to the time of the year, this morning’s photo is of a mallard duckling.

You should be able to see I’m shooting wide open to narrow the depth-of-field and defocus the background.

Hope everyone has a good day today. Going to be crazy-busy at work so will be hitting the espressos hard and often.

One of the several introduced birds to NZ is the chaffinch. The male has a distinctive blue-gray hood and russet saddle.

Looks like a fine Spring day here in Auckland, so I think I’ll be grabbing some cameras and heading off. After a decent coffee of course

Hope everyone else has a pleasant Friday also.

As you can see, I’m going for a non-wildlife shot today. This was from an area of Jilin (with 4 tiger reserves), but was based more on the local culture. I’m not entirely sure however, when red pvc shorts became part of traditional attire

It’s more of a snapshot, as seating arrangements were forcing me to shoot between heads to just part of the stage.

Looks like a fine Spring day in Auckland, so I hope everybody else enjoys the day also.

Thought that this morning’s coffee would be enhanced by a whistling kite, caught in the split second it’s hanging in the air

Hope everybody has a relaxed Friday.

Most of the photos I take are actually macros, but the subjects are typically a lot less popular than the vertebrates. Hopefully, the chap below isn’t seen as very threatening.

One of the more fascinating aspects of NZ ecosystems, is that our native fly species do a lot of the pollinating. There’s a bit of a gap in our native bee lineup.

This very small creature you might see flitting around your gardens from time to time

As always, clicking the image will bring up a larger version.

On to my second double espresso already…hope everyone has a good Friday.

Today’s shot is one of a Jacana making a rare misstep. Usually they’re much more adept at ‘walking on water’ (i.e. the weeds just under the surface).

Clicking the image should bring up a larger version.

I liked this shot partly because of the low angle, which helps create the reflection in the water.

Still trying to wean myself off double-espressos this morning… and failing Hope everyone has a great Friday.

One from my flying gannet collection.

Now, I haven’t fully recovered from China, so am off to mainline some espressos. Hope everybody has a good Friday.

Sorry for the delay this morning. I’m heading back to China shortly for some more tiger work. This will also mean I won’t be able to do a photo for next Friday.

Anyway, I liked this shot of a kararea, for the eye details and the smoothness of the defocused background.

As always, the larger version can be viewed with the old ‘right-click’. Now, today, I am drinking a *lot* of coffee

The white-heron was in a blillabong up near Darwin and I quite liked the setting of the scene. It seemed very peaceful.

The trickiest aspect of the shot was the fact a 4m crocodile was somewhere around. It’s the ones you can’t see that make me nervous.

As always, clicking the image will bring up a larger version

Hope everyone has a good day. Now, I really need to find some coffee…

Going for a more tranquil start to the day today-

Hope everyone has a good day…now I’m off to find some coffee

Here’s a nice shot taken low, of a crocodile swimming towards me

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This animal was about 3 metres long and the photo was taken on the Mary River.
I liked this shot for the relatively light colouring of the scales, and the reflective effect in the water.

Back to birds today- a male Australian fig-eater

Hope everyone has a good Friday, replete with lots of coffee.

I seem to be a very busy bee at the moment

As always, clicking on the image will bring up a larger version
(It took a lot of shots to get this one)