TomKal foto

New Zealand will be presented in the same way as Australia is (the subject of the introductory text about Australia was Australian Bustard). The landscape and flora of New Zealand is included in the Countries gallery. The short introduction to the fauna presented in greater detail in the galleries features particular species is also included there. Why is the introductory text included in the gallery of Kea? The reason is that I was unable to photograph the species of birds that are more characteristic of New Zealand. The most characteristic birds of the region are flightless birds of kiwi family. There are several species of these. However, they constitute a rare species and they are nocturnal animals. That is why you will not be able to view this bird in my gallery. The next better-known bird of New Zealand is kakapo, which is the heaviest flightless parrot in the world. Unfortunately, it faces extinction nowadays and lives high in the mountains. These two species of birds are therefore difficult to find. What is more, after photographing birds in Autralia, photographing of birds in New Zealand is not a thrilling experience. Autralia is a bigger area, but it was not possible for me to visit all the places there. In fact, I visited more places in New Zealand. According to the official data, 850 species of birds live in Australia, while only about 300 species inhabit New Zealand. This contributed to my sense of disappointment. New Zealand is nearly 29 times as small as Australia. When it comes to the variety of birds species there, about half as many birds live in New Zealand as in Autralia. One would expect a denser population of birds in New Zealand. 40 of these species are ones introduced to the island by the European colonizers. When I was considering different subjects to take photos of, I was really disappointed. I was watching a beautiful sunrise, when I only came across sparrows, starlings, and goldfinches. I felt as if I had been in Poland. The effort to arrive in this remote part of the world was not compensated by this view. Of course, when I went inland, I found some more interesting species of birds. But the tour of New Zealand was not nearly as exciting as the tour of Australia. In Australia I photographed hundreds of species of birds. New Zealand appeared to be a bird dessert. Despite having beautiful vistas, dense mysterious forests, it did not offer much and I did not observe many interesting species. The forests are so dense one cannot enter them. Another interesting thing about New Zealand is the fact that there are virtually no insects there. Perhaps, the absence of insects contributes to fewer birds inhabiting the island. New Zealand is smaller than Poland. It has about 40.000 square kilometres and is inhabited by four million people. In fact, New Zealand is a large island and nearest continent is 2.000 kilometres away.

            The gallery of New Zealand birds will become part of my website. It will not feature many species, however. This especially applies to some endemic New Zealand species. Kea is a  conspicuous animal, being the only flying mountain parrot in the world. It mainly inhabits the plateaus of the island. Therefore it is easier to come across in the mountains. When I was checking at the hotel in the mountains, I inquired about this species of bird and the receptionist told me that I would meet the bird before sunset not far away from the hotel. I was really surprised by this information, as the bird is very rare and it is impossible to find it anywhere else in the world. Just before sunrise, I took my equipment, the photo camera and a microphone and when I was leaving the hotel, I could hear a distinct noise made by a group of birds. When I approached the place from which the noise was coming I could see many parrots playing between cars and attracted to anything made of rubber. They started playing with car antennas and wipers. Unluckily, it was too dark to start taking photos, but I could record the sounds that the birds were producing. When it finally dawned, I took some photos of these parrots. Some of the photos, however, are blurred, as my camera had lens with too long focal length. Unfortunately, a group of Japanese tourists left the hotel and when they started to take photos of the view, the birds started flying away. I managed to take one dynamic photograph that captures the beauty of this bird’s plumage. Kea is a large parrot, having the wingspan of 90 cm. It only inhabits the southern island of New Zealand. it follows the same diet as other species of parrots. But it also visits dustbins in search of human leftovers. It also hunts for other animals. I wish I had managed to photograph them playing in the park, where they were turning around, laying on the back, teasing other birds. That view offered to a photographer many interesting themes. The first gallery pictures presents birds in their natural habitat and, frankly speaking, these photo were difficult to take. The others pictures shows their assault on the cars and roofs and shows them in an urban area. I strongly recommend to view my website and I hope you see the birds natural everyday behaviour.