This week we are visiting another of my favourite places for a walk around Mount Maunganui. The walk around the base track always reveals some interesting subjects and our walk yesterday was no different. Kelp Gulls, Pied Shags, Gannets and Variable Oystercatchers can almost be relied on and at this time of the year New Zealand Fur Seals are a common sighting.

A male fur seal resting on the rocks was the first stop on our walk. After spending a bit of time playing with backlit images, I turned around and found a Kingfisher watching me. Moving slightly I managed to find a spot of sunlit grass among the distant trees to create a background to complement the lichen on the rocks. As with sunset photography it is always worth looking behind yourself.

Just before departing this spot I saw a Paciifc Reef Heron land on some distant rocks. It is always exciting to see one of these but it was a bit too far to photograph and trying to approach closer would have disturbed another seal floating in the shallows.

Heading further along the track we found more seals and the most photogenic was a small pup resting on a rock. Keeping some of the out of focus foreground rocks in frame works with the distant sea to creates a “texture vignette” that helps focus in on the soft seal on the hard rock.

Next stop was with an attractive female Blackbird scratching in some leaf and twig litter next to the path. It was not the ideal place to stop as it was directly beneath a Pied Shag breeding site and the “raindrops” I heard pattering onto my hat and jacket were the expected whitewash, fortunately only relatively small drops though.

I had seen the Reef Heron flying along toward the harbour side so was optimistic that we may run into it again. Exploring along the rocky margins unfortunately didn’t reveal the heron but I got a full sequence of a juvenile Australasian Gannet diving, unfortunately with moored ships in the background of some images.

The final opportunity was with a couple of young Pied Shags resting on a barnacle encrusted piece of steel. Just like Forrest Gump’s life like a box of chocolates, you never know what you will get but, on a walk around Mount Maunganui, it’s usually something good. 

All photos with Nikon D850 and Nikon 500mm f5.6PF. All these images could have been successfully made with a D500 and 300mmf4PF, a significantly smaller and lighter combination to carry. The only difference would have been slightly lower resolution.