Thursday, December 10, 2009

Birds of New Zealand

It was at Kaikoura that I started to notice some of the native birds such as the Red-billed Gull.This gull is a native of New Zealand, and is found throughout the country and on outlying islands. It is such a pretty bird.Then at Lake Te Anau, I got introduced to more bird life around the lake area. The Black-billed Gull is another species that is endemic to New Zealand.As I walked around the beach, more birds started to pop out like this Starling.This bird is an introduce species and it got its name from the tiny white stars that gleam, only in summer, against its glistening dark feathers.
Then came these birds what I initially thought were similar to Little Grebes. They turned out to be Black Teal or New Zealand Scaups. They are diving ducks that live on large bodies of clean water. These ducks can dive to a depth of 2–3 metres in search of fresh water snails and aquatic plants. I managed to capture this synchronized dive.As these weren't as shy as the Little Grebes, I have a lovely photo collection of these ducks.

2 comments:

DayDream said...

There are different species of Birds in different the world and this is a good thing showing people the many variety's of birds in new england

Shirls said...

Thanks! It was fun for me too discovering the wild life.