This weekend was destined to be a weekend for New Zealand Pigeons, although not quite as planned. A friend had noticed a pair in a tree at their kindergarten so had contacted us and dropped off a key so that we could pop in over the weekend to photograph them. Despite dropping in a couple of times only a Blackbird and Song Thrush were seen in the tree that the pigeons had been visiting all week. Having had a lovely evening at Okareka yesterday, I headed back today and on the way saw two large pigeons enjoying a clump of tree lucerne next to the road so stopped off to photograph them.  They are lovely big gentle birds up to 50cm long and weighing in at 630g and when in flight have a very distinct sound as their wings beat through the air. Their green and purple iridescence with their clean white bellies is very attractive and their Maori name of Kereru is onomatopoeic for the sound they make. For more information see the informative page at NZBirdsonline.

After getting a few shots of them clambering heavily through the branches picking of the choice young leaves, I headed off to the lake edge and settled in to wait for some action, which today, didn’t eventuate. This was a little frustrating as the lake was completely calm with lovely light from the hills. Fortunately, another keen bird photographer, Reg Quinn, was also there and we spent an enjoyable time chatting in the reeds as the sun settled behind us. A completely different but no less enjoyable day at the lake than yesterday.