Yesterday, I was on Tiritiri Matangi photographing the birds on the island. Tiritiri is an island sanctuary, near Auckland, teeming with birds almost all of which endemic to New Zealand. It was coming to the end of the day and I was on my way back to the ferry not paying my full attention to the birds around me. Heading for a spot close to the wharf where I knew I was likely to find fernbirds for some last few shots of the day. It had been a very good day for spotting fernbirds so far having seen four of them but only managing to photograph one of the beautiful birds.
The path beneath my feet a soft grass, silencing my footsteps as I walked and the sun shining unusually bright for this time of winter. One side of the path was thick with trees, whilst the other had low divaricating shrubs giving a clear view over the valley beyond.
I was looking out over the valley enjoying the when suddenly I heard a flutter of wings and a rustle of grass right at my feet. As I quickly glanced down a tiny black form darted from the grass into the trees. I peered into the darkness behind the thick foliage on the edge of the trees to see what it was. There, sat only a metre away from me, was the elusive fernbird. Just what I was going looking for and I’d almost stepped on it!
I slowly bought my camera up so as not to alarm it whilst watching it’s beautiful hazelnut colours. I almost had it there when I heard the unmistakable wing beat directly above of a kereru (New Zealand pigeon). I wasn’t going to let it affect my chance of capturing the fernbird, so my eyes remained forward not looking up. Then crash! What the hell was happening. I looked up, not seeing the kereru. Only a handful of its white feathers exploding outwards from the point it must have had careened into the branches above.
Before I could comprehend what was going on a beautiful form silhouetted against the sky shot out from over the tree line. A swamp harrier. It was still in its hunting glide going it a spectacular speed. I quickly grabbed my camera to capture it but it was gone too quickly. I managed a few shots as it returned to its normal flight over the valley before it disappeared over the next ridge.
By this point, the fernbird was long gone but seeing the harrier in action directly overhead was worth trading it for. Even without any decent photographs of any of it, I will always remember that moment.
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