Many years ago we used to stop at the Waipu Cove campsite in our pick-up that had a mattress in the back and a gas stove for cooking. Those were the days before digital photography and fishing was the priority so the sleeping space was shared with a quiver of fishing rods. For old times sake we booked in for a few nights and had a very pleasant cabin close to the beach. The hope was to locate Fairy Terns/Tara iti which are New Zealand’s rarest and most critically endangered endemic bird with only approximately 40 individuals remaining.
An unexpected bonus was the opportunity to get some closer opportunities with Bar-tailed Godwits. As mentioned previously, Pūkorokoro Miranda, has good numbers of Godwits but over time access has become restricted so is limiting for photography. Having the Waipu Estuary to explore gave plenty of opportunity for closer Godwit encounters.
Bird photography requires proximity and this requires understanding and respect for your subjects. Barging in and scaring birds is never rewarding so low, slow or still is the best approach. Without restrictions on where you can go, approaches can be tailored to using the habitat and understanding the patterns of bird behaviour. This gave me plenty of opportunities to photograph birds comfortably feeding and flying past on their way to feeding banks becoming exposed by the falling tide.
As you can see from these photos the birds were quite relaxed flying toward me or feeding in close proximity.
Photos with Nikon D500 and Nikon 500mm f4VR + TC 14 1.4x teleconverter
