Last weekend, Edin and I led another workshop in Auckland so used the opportunity after the Saturday session to make a visit to one of our favourite places and do another Muriwai trip. Each visit is different and we have been lucky to visit a number of times recently. The Red-footed Booby is still there and the hope is always a chance of some flight shots, but as with the time before, he just shot straight in to his perch and started preening. The overwhelming impression of Muriwai is the amazing spectacle of the flying Gannets, so numerous and so close, and the initial impulse is to get good pictures of a Gannet in flight. I now have hundreds of these type of photos but it is too hard to pass up the opportunity so we always do some flying gannet shots. The landscape is also dramatic so usually we do some Gannet in habitat shots and even some purely landscape shots, but we are always looking for something a bit different. On this last visit the winds were much gentler than recent previous visits and the colony is very busy with adults displaying, some nest building and some feeding a range of chicks, with the earliest chicks of the season almost ready to fledge. There are some birds very close to the lower viewing platform and this gave an opportunity to do some close up shots which are a little different from previous photos and a nice opportunity to explore some shapes, colours and textures. I still have to go through my shots and cull all the rubbish before processing but have pulled these few out quickly for this week’s blog. 

At Muriwai you are restricted in where you can shoot from as it is a protected colony. It is not always possible to get this close to the birds but this season some are nesting and raising chicks just over the railing around the viewing platform which gives some unique opportunities as they are completely comfortable with human presence. There are other photos exploring slow shutter speeds, displaying adults, the odd rabbit that runs the gauntlet of nesting gannets and the beautiful sunset we had. As always it was a fabulous day with Muriwai re-energising us after the workshop session. A quick meal at the Fireplace in Kumeu then a shower and bed in preparation for day 2 of the workshop which is always more fun with more field work and image processing than the first day that has to cover all the technical basics before applying them.

By way of balance, especially for any Gannets that see this and think that they are all grace and beauty, they look a little comical from the front! Biologically they remain beautiful with those stunning eyes that give them the precise stereoscopic vision for their aerial assaults on fish.

All photos with Nikon D500 and Nikon 300mm f4 PF lens.