Coming too

Packed up, cleaned up, and left the house where we stayed in New Plymouth. S had left on Monday, so I was keen to get away and back to Auckland. An early morning run gave me some photos to consider, and after I had arrived the sunset from the apartment deck was very pleasing.

After considerable thought and some vacillation, I have settled on this for my photo for today. A little south of Te Kuiti, just before the junction of SH3 with the road across to National Park, my attention was caught by a large bird flying across the road to land in the scrubby land to the left. I recognised it as  a turkey. 

I stopped and putting the long lens on the camera managed a number of photos before they got too far up the hill and into the rough scrub, or behind rocks or both. Until I was looking at the photos tonight, I hadn't been aware that the rearmost in this group appears to be calling to its mates. 

I have a less clear photo of turkeys from ten weeks ago, meaning that this photo doesn't add to my total of bird species identified and photographed this year. Those were on a farm, and these ones are in the wild. 

Turkeys were introduced to NZ from Northeastern Mexico and adjacent US states These are feral turkeys (Maori name is Korukoru, said to be onomatopoeic for their call), having escaped from domesticated sites.