{"id":20465,"date":"2026-09-06T06:42:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T18:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/?p=20465"},"modified":"2026-09-05T12:43:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T00:43:56","slug":"a-reward-for-persistence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/20465","title":{"rendered":"A Reward for Persistence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Great<\/a>
Great Cormorant I had seen from the bridge. From that distance I wasn’t aware it was in lovely breeding colours with filoplumes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This week I’d like to share a story about photographing whio\/blue ducks. I was down at T\u016brangi for a week to photograph the ducks that are now reliably found due to regular predator control. Being early spring they were pairing up and being quite territorial, staking their spots on the river so there had been quite a lot of movement of pairs up and down the section I was exploring.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Late in the day at the edge of the river, I was waiting for one to arrive. I was at a reliable location where they’d been repeatedly, so I felt patience was all it needed. A couple of hours later, surprisingly, none had arrived and the light was fading fast. The thought of a stout with dinner in a warm cabin was becoming more attractive than a cold riverside rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling philosophical, I decided to head home, but while crossing the swingbridge I looked upstream and saw, beyond an island, a great cormorant sitting on a rock that would make a nice subject. Not having any especially decent photos of great cormorant, I decided at least if I headed upriver and photographed that bird, I’d have something to show for my afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hiked up above the bird before sneaking into the river. Crouched and wading slowly, I worked my way down the edge to get a nice low perspective on the cormorant and really enjoyed watching it preening and flicking water. I moved a little to get a better background and was happy with what I’d got.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Great<\/a>
Great Cormorant tossing water droplets<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a movement, a blue\/grey river stone was drifting downriver, followed by another. Feathers resolved with a pink bill and piercing yellow eye, a pair of blue ducks. They just silently appeared drifting down the current, only a few meters away from me.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Whio\/Blue<\/a>
Whio\/Blue duck pair feeding<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Keeping my nice low perspective, I tracked them as they fed in the current and got photos of them feeding, diving, preening, resting on rocks. It was a lovely experience. They were entirely comfortable with me and in the fading light they began courting and mating. So what had turned from a salvage excursion, a great cormorant in exchange for no blue ducks, had developed into one of my most intriguing blue duck encounters ever. Just another example of why never giving up is worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Courting whio\/Blue ducks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For me, the biggest joy in outdoor bird photography is just being in the environment. I get pleasure from just sitting and watching nature. Disappearing into it so that I am irrelevant to the birds is a joy. The photos are a bonus and a reminder of the experience. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Whio\/Blue<\/a>
Whio\/Blue duck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

My photos of the great cormorant on the rock will be a reminder of the sudden excitement of seeing these blue ducks drift down close to me. My photos of the blue ducks feeding and courting will be a reminder of the privilege of disappearing into nature and having wildlife accept you while just getting on with their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Whio\/Blue<\/a>
Whio\/Blue duck staring straight at me and unconcerned by my presence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Technically it was challenging, with the birds being at times a little bit too close for my 800mm lens, and the fading light and the desire for deeper depth of field making exposure really challenging.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Whio\/Blue<\/a>
Whio\/Blue duck wing flap after post mating bathe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The obvious excitement of the encounter prompted my smartwatch to give me a notification that I’d just had a stressful period as I was walking home. Smartwatches obviously aren’t smart enough yet to differentiate the tachycardia of excitement from the tachycardia of stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos with Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 800mm f6.3 PF<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week I’d like to share a story about photographing whio\/blue ducks. I was down at T\u016brangi for a week to photograph the ducks that are now reliably found due to regular predator control. Being early spring they were pairing up and being quite territorial, staking their spots on the river so there had been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"A Reward for Persistence - hiking upriver for a last gasp great cormorant image is rewarded with a unique twilight blue duck encounter ","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[982,29,1001],"tags":[26,25,224,473,144,247,1021,221,983,609,190,653],"class_list":["post-20465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-photography","category-new-zealand","category-wildlife","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds","tag-blue-duck","tag-cormorant","tag-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand-bird","tag-nikkor-z-800mm-f6-3-vr-s","tag-nikon","tag-nikon-z9","tag-nikonnz","tag-photography","tag-tongariro-river","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"\nA Reward for Persistence - 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Shortly the cicadas\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "birds"","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/TonyWhirinaki-DSCF8734-web.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/TonyWhirinaki-DSCF8734-web.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/TonyWhirinaki-DSCF8734-web.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/TonyWhirinaki-DSCF8734-web.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9190,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/9190","url_meta":{"origin":20465,"position":3},"title":"Tokaanu wharf","author":"tony","date":"August 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This week we're back to our Turangi trip to photograph Blue Ducks on the Tongariro River. While in the area we decided to visit the Tokaanu wharf which is a great spot of the southern end of Lake Taupo. It is a short drive from Turangi and well worth the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "birds"","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Scaup-DSC_5877-weblogo.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Scaup-DSC_5877-weblogo.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Scaup-DSC_5877-weblogo.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Scaup-DSC_5877-weblogo.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9138,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/9138","url_meta":{"origin":20465,"position":4},"title":"Blue Ducks","author":"tony","date":"July 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Today our trip around the southern part of the South Island is going to be interrupted by something from closer to home. I have written about Blue Ducks previously and have been wanting to head down to Turangi to photograph them again for some time. I was due to guide\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "birds"","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/EdinTurangi-DSCF3550-web.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/EdinTurangi-DSCF3550-web.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/EdinTurangi-DSCF3550-web.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/EdinTurangi-DSCF3550-web.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10129,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/10129","url_meta":{"origin":20465,"position":5},"title":"Okareka photowalk","author":"tony","date":"May 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Some of the images I have been delayed in processing were from a visit in February when fellow Birds NZ member, Denise Poyner, came down from Auckland to explore some Rotorua bird photography spots. One of our plans was for an Okareka photowalk as it is one of my favourite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "birds"","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pied Stilt chick","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/PiedStiltChick-D5C_3582-web.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/PiedStiltChick-D5C_3582-web.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/PiedStiltChick-D5C_3582-web.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/PiedStiltChick-D5C_3582-web.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GreatCormorant-20260824-NZ9_4092-DxO_DeepPRIME-XD3-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20465"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20494,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20465\/revisions\/20494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}