It really feels like winter has arrived in New Zealand. The recent torrential rain and dips in temperature have signaled the warm dry weather is at an end. With the onset of winter comes the local birds foraging for food. Their searches become increasingly demanding as their warm weather food sources wane.
This is the time of the year when we get the local groups of tauhou (silver-eyes) visiting. These small birds like the 'high octane' diet of nectar and fruit.
Posts Tagged new zealand
Bird photo for Friday May 10
No CommentsNZ Tunnelwebs Dec 11
No CommentsThese large lurking spiders are common in the NZ bush. Their nocturnal habits though mean they are rarely seen by people. On occasion they do wander into people's houses. We had one crawl across the kitchen floor earlier on afternoon. Fortunately in our house we keep a cool head around large spiders. Actually we tend to be enthusiastic greeters to such arachnids.
Nonetheless, the best time to see these spiders is at night. It is extremely rare to see them out of their tunnels. Nonetheless, I managed it with this large beauty. This is the NZ Hexathelid Hexatheles hochstetteri – one of the very first species from NZ to be described.
This Mygalomorph spider is unusual for having 6 spinnerets rather than 4. They are some of New Zealand's largest (by weight) spiders.
#1 Wanderer
#2 Closeup- the small eyes are clustered at the front edge of the carapace
#3 Adapted to kill- the spines on the front legs help trap the prey long enough for the fangs to strike
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Monday #Macro: Under the Cover of the Night Sep 17
No CommentsOne of the reasons to attempt photography at night time is you get the chance to see behaviours that don't occur during the day. This means nocturnal creatures come out, spiders repair their webs and other high-risk activities occur. One of these is mating. For arthropods, mating is a high-risk activity. It means you have to abandon the usual routines that protect you from predation. You have to search for a potential mate, succeed with the liaison and avoid predators while exposed. One solution is to attempt this at night time because many avian predators will be fast asleep- or have difficulty locating you.
This led to the spotting of two crane-flies locked in coitus
This shot used my new Macro twin Flash with the side-arm on the right extended and angled to give some side light and pick out more fine detail on the antenna and body hairs. I also had a 6x Raynox adapter attached to the macro lens.
Scenic photos from Mokoroa #Stream Sep 08
No CommentsThis is definitely one of the most picturesque nature reserves I've visited in the West Auckland area. It's sometimes hard to believe what can be found in a 30-45 minute drive from home. Well, there's also the hiking, but that adds to the pleasure.
The minor issue was cutting my fingers out in the bush, so bleeding was an added hassle. Some of my gear has a new patina of red :/
#1 A momentary respite
#2 Rush
#3 Steps
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Take me to the river: Mokoroa #Waterfall Sep 06
No CommentsThe Mokoroa Stream includes a waterfall. In fact, it consists of twin falls as two streams feed into it.
This fall is quite spectacular, but the constant water spray ruined many of my shots
The other fall is more picturesque than powerful. The mature trees at the top of the falls gives some idea of the scale.
The flow of water over the rock faces is appealing.
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Relax- Mokoroa #Stream Sep 05
No CommentsWhile the earlier post showed some more dynamic sections of the Mokoroa Stream, there are also much more placid sections. From the technical perspective, these shots required the use of a stable tripod (the legs have to be placed on slippery rocks or under water) and a polariser filter. The filter slows the exposure down, and by cutting through the surface reflections of the water, deepens the green hues and reveals detail.
#1 Liquid Green
#2 Marooned
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Tuesday #Travel: Sunset Sep 04
No CommentsA shot from the West Coast of the South Island. The sun is starting to set, giving the sky a red hue. The West Coast is one of the best places in New Zealand to do landscape photography, with the proviso you have to be there when it's not raining :)
Monday #Macro – Moth Aug 27
No CommentsTo prove that I don't always take macro photos of spiders, here's a small moth I located last week in an evening session. I'm afraid I'm no expert on NZ moths and have absolutely no idea what species it is. I did like the way it was hanging vicariously on the small twig on the tree though.
The lighting effects came from my Macro Twin Flash. Also, taking photographs of arthropods in the dark of night is a lot harder than you might think…
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Winning medals at the Olympics Aug 06
7 CommentsAt the moment New Zealand is doing well at the London Olympics. As of this morning, we're ranked number 14 in the medal table (yeah, that means ahead of Australia). There are all sorts of other ways to rank this too. Crude ways to look at medal tallies include relating it to population (in which case we look fantastic) or to GDP (drop a few places lower).
The problem is that a lot of these ways are crude. This relates to a host of factors. First up, how we rank countries isn't based on the total number of medals. Australia has got (as of today), 1 gold and 12 silver. NZ has 3 gold and 0 silver. The ranking-system means that 1 gold medal always beats 1 silver…or 10 silver…or 100 silver. Gold medals are really nice to have. Gold medals should count for more than silver. It's just hard accepting that no amount of silver medals would ever equal a gold.
The second problem is that medals aren't statistically independent of each other. In some sports the ability to win a gold medal in one event, is strongly linked to others. A good example is sprinting. If you are an Olympic-class sprinter, then the odds you can win gold medals in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 4×100 relay and long-jump are actually linked. Jessie Owens proved it at Berlin. Carl Lewis proved at Los Angeles. These are events that use similar physical aptitudes. Conversely, there's less options with boxing or long-distance running. You'll notice that Marathon runners don't come back with a bag of medals. The events you compete in, give different medal tally distributions.
There are some general things that do affect medal-tallies. Population-size is one of them. It's not a precise line up, but if we imagine the distribution of athletic talent follows some kind of bell-curve, then countries with big populations will have a larger upper tail to recruit athletes from. This isn't a simple translation of population to medals. To be a top athlete also requires motivation (it's not obvious that this is linked to GDP, athletic prowess can be a path out of poverty to some). It also requires both training and exposure to top-level competition. So this might be linked to GDP. Nonetheless, it doesn't have to be. In fact, the enormous variation in medal performance linked to GDP, suggests this is a poor way to predict or explain sporting success.
In the end and irrespective of the ways we measure success at the Olympics, I am enjoying the gold-medals we've been accumulating. We're doing well :)
Aerial exempler: the takapu (#gannet) Jul 23
No CommentsWhile many of our forest birds are either flightless or poor fliers (I mean, seriously, who else wonders how a kereru manages to stay in the air?), the sea birds can be more adept. One of the most exciting to watch is the takapu (or Australasian gannet). Auckland is fortunate enough to have a colony nearby at Muriwai and some good viewing areas.
Here's an example of the takapu in flight
Link to larger image
This photo is also available at Committed Photography
