After being rained on and surrounded by fog in the National Park, we stopped at a few places around the edge of Lake Taupo to look for birds. At one particular place we found a impressive collection of bird-life, including a pair of Canada geese and Black-Billed Gulls, which I have longed to get good photos of for quite some time. They’re much less common than their Red-billed cousins, and much prettier. Their squawks, however, are no less annoying. The gulls were quite co-operative and I managed to get one in flight not long after arriving, even though Dad’s attempts to herd them towards me were met with little concern.

I then focused on two Coots who were preening each other instead of chasing each other around as Coots usually do. They too were remarkably placid, even when I jumped down from the grass onto the muddy edge of the lake. I’ve been looking to do more photography of animal behaviour and interactions, so this was a perfect opportunity.

The Canada Geese were a little suspicious of me at first, but were soon content to graze as I snuck up on them slowly. I waddled towards them in an awkward crouch, only gaining inquisitive looks from a sparrow who landed beside me to suss me out. The dry reeds made a nice soft background while also hinting at the habitat that these birds frequent. It was a great experience to be able to get so close to a usually flighty species, by careful consideration of their comfort zone and how I appeared to them. I try to make sure, in all the wildlife photography that I do, that I disturb my subjects as little as possible. It’s important to have as little impact as possible on their natural state so as to observe their natural behaviours. Perhaps that’s a subject for another post.

After the morning of Blue Ducks, it was a great bird photography day for me!