I recently got a message that a pair of Royal Spoonbills were visiting Lake Okareka. Heading up later in the day I was lucky to see them before they left. A pair had visited a year ago but I had not had the chance to see them so was pleased to get the opportunity this time.

While I was there they went from resting and preening to feeding along the edge to resting up and preening again before being flushed by a passing Harrier. This gave a chance to record a few different images.

As they flushed toward me I had a chance to take some close-up flight images as they headed off.

In addition to the Royal Spoonbills there were good numbers of Grey Teal/tētē moroiti, Pied Stilt/poaka, Mallards and Canada Geese. I was quite pleased with this image of a group of Mallards talking flight against a grey cloud that let me make one of my Birds on White images.

It is always challenging with a group of birds to get a composition without obstructed heads and pleasing wing positions. One of the bonuses of the 20 fps of the Nikon Z9 is a few frames to choose from.

Photos with Nikon Z9 and Nikkor 500mm f5.6PF + TC17E 1.7x teleconverter.