Sunday 13 February 2011

New Zealand (South Island)

On a day of very blustery conditions and continuous rain, there's little for it except to get the laundry and ironing done and once again lean heavily on the photo library. New Zealand is certainly one of the most picturesque countries in the world (check out Lord of the Rings movie) with its mountains, fjords, dramatic coastlines etc but it also hold an interesting selection of avifauna. Due to human introductions, not always advantageous to the birds, it is not unusual to see the likes of Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Lesser Redpoll and Yellowhammer (to name but a few) but the endemics are well worth the effort to find.

All of these shots were taken on South Island

Banded Dotterel

Banded Dotterel (chick)

New Zealand Bellbird

Black-billed Gull

Black-billed Gull

California Quail another of the feral species which thrives here.

Grey Warbler

New Zealand Fantail

Paradise Shelduck (male)

Paradise Shelduck (female)

Red-billed Gull

Silvereye