Auckland Botanical Gardens are always worth visiting but Spring is especially beautiful as the flowering Magnolias and Cherries are stunning and attract a lot of birds. It is a great opportunity to get some Tui photos and there were a few long lenses in attendance during a recent visit despite the Cherries not being in full bloom.

Apart from the Tuis there are plenty of other native and introduced species and they seem far more trusting than in their usual urban environment.

The pond is always worth exploring for ducks and dabchicks. The dabchicks often stay near the centre of the pond  but on this visit I was lucky to find one near the edge and it happily tolerated my presence for some lovely close shots with a great painterly background from the reflected trees. 

All photos with Nikon D500 and Nikon 300mm f4 PF lens with 1.4x teleconverter.

Entry to the Auckland Botanical Gardens is free and is a great stop even if you don’t want to photograph birds. I’m sure a flower photographer would have just as much fun!