Kereru at Wenderholm

This time of year the bird life out at Wenderholm regional park starts to spark into life. There is plenty of food coming on stream through the flowering vegetation such as the Kowhia and Bottle Brush. I initially went up to Wenderholm with the intention of shooting Tui feeding on a large flowering Kowhia tree in the main carpark. The Tui’s were a no show, but I was fortunate enough to find a pair of native wood pigeons or Kereru feeding on the Kowhia flowers. The pair had a pretty big appetite for the flowers eating them whole in one gulp, without much pause before tearing another flower from the tree. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to catch Tui feeding on the Kowhia flower nectar over the next couple of weeks.

If You Don’t Go You Won’t Know

Thinking the weather was great for waterfall photography (bright overcast) I headed out to Piha to shoot Kitekite falls. The week had been pretty wet so I knew the waterfall would be charged with good flows compared to the trickle that it usually is in summer.

About half way out to Piha (a 60 minute drive from my place) the weather started to turn and it looked like rain. What to do? Well I kept on going. By the time I hit the carpark at the beginning of the track steady rain greeted me. After investing in the drive I thought I’d just take a chance and walk up to the falls outlook. Steady rain turned to a torrential downpour half way up the track. I was soaked and my camera bag was not faring much better. Pig headed I kept on going. At the outlook the torrent stopped, wind dropped and the clouds almost parted. The falls where charged up in spectacular form. Out with the damp camera and tripod for some satisfying shots. Serendipity. Sometimes you’ve just got to keep on going.