This week we are visiting the Tongariro Blue Ducks again. This trip was prompted by a visiting photographer friend who had not previously had the chance to see and photograph Blue Ducks. Despite a suboptimal weather forecast we headed south. With distance the weather cleared to the point that I began worrying about harsh sunlight.

One of the benefits of a growing population on the river is that the chance of seeing ducks is quite high. Arriving at my usual spot we peeped over the bank and saw one resting on a rock. Returning after assembling gear it had moved on so we explored a little more and found a pair at a spot a little further upstream. I had seen these birds a few weeks prior actively defending a section of the river in preparation to breeding so was confident of finding them again.

On this occasion they were continually close together, swimming, feeding, resting on rocks and mating. This gave some excellent opportunities for photography. The above 2 images taken at the top of a rapid with distant background worked nicely using the angled LCD on the Nikon D850 in live-view to shoot from river surface level. The top image of the pair on a rock was shot as 2 individual images, one focussed on each duck and then masked into a focus stacked final image to keep both birds sharp.

This trip was a good reminder to ignore the weather forecast and take the time to find what is there. In the end the birds were more co-operative than ever and the diffused light was perfect. Since this trip I have been down again when the forecast was good but the conditions bad but enduring a few hours standing in the pouring rain with no ducks was finally rewarded by a picture I have been trying to get for years. That will be the topic of another post.

Photos with Nikon D850 and Nikon 500mm f5.6PF lens