Birds At Zealandia

We were in Wellington last weekend and despite the bad weather I took the opportunity to go for a walk in Zealandia. THe morning started overcast with a forecast for rain but I optimistically though the the rain might hold off. I got got up above the upper dam thinking that the weather didn't look too bad when suddenly it closed in and the heavy rain started. By this time I had managed to photograph several hihi at one of the feeding stations and though I had seen and heard lots of saddleback I hadn't managed to get any photos.

As the rain got heavier I tucked my camera under my rain coat and headed back down. As I went past one of the hihi feeding stations I was amazed to see more than a dozen hihi flying around, chasing each other, singing and totally oblivious to my presence often zipping right over my head or shoulder. I ended up spending nearly half an hour just standing there in the rain watching them. Ocassionally when the rain seemed to ease a bit I risked getting my camera out and attempting a few shots though the light was very poor. A couple of bellbird also turned up for a while and tried to chase the hihi away from the feeder but were totally outnumbered so not very successful. It was a wonderful experience being surrounded by these beautiful birds.

Below are the few good shots I managed to get in the poor light.