13 September 2016

Korimako on kanuka

More korimako, I'm afraid, but I can't resist these marvellous little birds. On a heavily overcast, dull day, I prowled along the edge of the terrace and encountered this female korimako inspecting the bark of an old kanuka for tasty invertebrate morsels  —  a change of diet from the more usual tree lucerne nectar.

I loved the scratch and papery rustle of her little claws on the peeling bark as she spiralled up the trunk.

[1/200 sec at f4, ISO 320]



All content © 2016 Pete McGregor

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Such a beautiful little bird. I'm glad you photograph her, so I here in California can admire such a sight.

pohanginapete said...

Thanks Robin :-) I'm so glad I can share photographs of my world so easily now. The Internet has its downsides, but the benefits are huge.

christy lee-engel said...

Pete, your appreciative description of the sound she is making, in addition to the beautiful clear details of claws and fluff and bright eye, makes the subtle particularity of this moment feel very alive!

pohanginapete said...

Thanks Christy. It'd be nice to be able to include sound with these photographs from time to time, but then I'd probably want to add video, and ... yes, well. I'll stick to still photographs and words for now :-)

gz said...

a lovely image...so sharp yet showing those soft and fluffy feathers

christy lee-engel said...

Still photographs + words = perfect!

AJB said...

Females apparently eat more insects etc when breeding (Sept - Feb) and also feed them to the chicks.

pohanginapete said...

gz, thanks :-)

Christy, :-)

Andrew, that makes sense. I hadn't thought of that, but it's nice to think she might be nesting somewhere nearby.

Zhoen said...

Bird at work.

pohanginapete said...

Zhoen, it was working intently.