Early November had us retracing paths first walked 30 years ago. The past 2 years saw us revisit Waipu and spend sometime with Fairy Terns. This year the campgound at Hahei was our destination for a few days. Things have changed somewhat. On our first visit we were young and sleeping on a foam mattress in the back of our Hilux amongst fishing rods seemed quite luxurious in comparison to a hiking tent. Thirty years on an equipped unit with facility to charge an electric vehicle is appreciated.

Looking at the cliffs we used to scramble down to target Kingfish from the rocks now just scares me. Fortunately my obsession to hunt large fish has morphed into an obsession with hunting birds with a camera. Hahei Dotterels offer some nice opportunities and on this occasion there was one pair as well as an individual with a damaged leg that we got to know on our beach walks.

Despite the injury this little bird seemed to be doing OK but it was quite distressing to see it hopping rather than the normal scurrying blur of legs.

This final images shows the difference between the harsh direct sunlight of the first 3 images and the soft diffused light from cloud cover. I prefer this type of light as it seems to work better with the soft textures of the plumage and is more versatile. Portrait photographers go to great lengths setting up scrims to achieve this but nature photographers have to rely on natural phenomena and models that don’t take direction.

Photos with Nikon D500 and Nikon 300mm f4PF lens. Most of my work recently has been with the D850 and 500mm f5.6PF combo but the D500/300mmPF combo achieves a very similar field of view with a much lower weight and was a joy to use.