A full beak

Funny day. Saw my GP first thing, and then had an assessment of someone who needs to be certified fit to practice if approval is to be given for a return to work. After lunch S and I packed a few things and cam north to the beach house for the weekend.

While she visited her mother, I took the camera and multiple lenses and went down to the water's edge as the tide neared full. On previous occasions I have disturbed kotare (kingfishers) almost as soon as I have come from the steps onto the rocky shore. I decided to move more slowly, and only after looking for a while.

Doing so I saw kotare diving into the shallow water. This photo is of a successful hunter returning to one of the pohutukawa trees which line the shore at this point. It is the second one I took. The first (one second before) showed no kotare, only a bigger disturbance of the water surface. Fortuitously I was ready as the bird emerged from the water. 

I cropped it more substantially than this to try to show the kotare better. The focus wasn't good enough for that. S preferred a relatively minimal crop to maintain the context. (I had not changed the lens from the 50-200 mm to the 100-300 mm). The middle ground is what I decided on and have blipped.

Today's extra photo is a more severely cropped shot of another kotare hovering over the water before diving and (I think) being successful. I have not previously seen a kotare hovering; literally motionless apart from its wing movement.

Although this house is colder than is the apartment, I am looking forward to a great weekend up here.