This little male NZ Dotterel (one of around 1,700 remaining) is one of 2 or 3 breeding pairs nesting close to where I live on the east coast north of Auckland, New Zealand. They have three chicks as far as I can make out and this brave fellow is doing a great job looking out for danger. One must be very careful photographing these birds not to cause them stress by staying around for any length of time or being seen to pay them too much attention. They try to distract intruders near their nest by pretending to be injured – they will even fake a broken wing - all the time leading the intruder further from the nest. This is unnecessary stress for this little bird.
I will return for a minute or two at a time over the next few weeks and see if the chicks will be photographed.
The New Zealand dotterel/tūturiwhatu is an endangered species found only in NZ. It was once widespread and common but there are only about 1700 birds left. This serious decline in numbers is due to a combination of habitat loss, predation by introduced mammals and disturbance during breeding. They lay their eggs in shallow sand scoop nests just above the high mark so are very vulnerable.
Nikon D800e, 600mm AF-S, beanbag, F4.5, 1/800 sec, ISO 2500. Raw capture post processed in LR 5.3 with crop, exposure, contrast adjustments together with NR and sharpening.
Last edited by Alistair Owens; 01-08-2014 at 02:28 PM.
Reason: To add EXIF and PP data
Welcome to BPN Alistair!! I'm sure that you will enjoy it here
Nice first post of this now rare species, and thanks for the information about it! I like the low angle you have here with a nice clean BG. Good head turn (perhaps a bit too much) and overall details. If you are OK with it I would eliminate the bare stick in front of the subject (not sure how in LR though) and I would definitely warm up the white balance as it is leaning towards blue here. Anyhow, awesome start here, and looking forward to more...and keep us posted about the chick!
Welcome to BPN, Alistair, and congratulations on your first post!!! What a great first post. You obviously have a great low angle here and a nice pose on the bird. I like the light bird against the dark background (BG).
I am not a big fan of removing objects from an image but would make an exception in this case with the one stray vine.
NZ Dotterel
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