After a challenging 2020 it was with optimism that I started New Year 2021. The delight of the Christmas/New Year period is that we usually have the whole family together which means I have a bird photography and mountain biking companion for a week or so. As always good experiences shared are amplified.

After the obligatory New Year’s Day roast lunch and a mountain bike ride to balance the energy intake/expenditure a trip to Lake Okareka to visit the flowering flax/harakeke and Tui was a perfect way to start the bird photography year. A young Tui fledgling exploring the new world was a bonus and as usual the Poaka/Pied Stilt offered decent opportunities.

January 2nd prompted an early morning drive to Mount Maunganui for a walk around the base track. As usual this offered more opportunities and nesting Kelp Gulls can be expected at this time.

Some are stilling incubating while other have quite large begging chicks already.

Most exciting though was seeing Tūturiphatu/New Zealand Dotterel nesting on the main beach at Mount Maunganui. It was exciting to see a pair foraging on the beach earlier in the year but I didn’t anticipate that they would attempt to breed on what is an extremely busy beach. We photographed one lone bird foraging along the tide line and then found 2 sitting on nests behind a taped barrier.

It was great to see them still on nests after the usual New Year chaos at one of the rather notorious hotspots for crazy human behaviour. With luck they will hatch and fledge some chicks.

Photos with Nikon D850 and Nikon 500mm f5.6PF (Okareka) and Nikon D500 with 300mm f4PF (Mount Maunganui) with TC14E 1.4x teleconverter for Dotterels. While my go to rig for birds is currently the former, every time I use the D500 and 300mm f4PF combo I am reminded of what an excellent setup it is. Light, nimble and compact.