Hello again everyone! In a somewhat ironic state, our normal roles here at Intrigued have been inverted. Normally, I am the one having to be “given” care for whatever mess I’ve gotten myself into – noting ever grateful as it is the season for Thanks-“giving”. Today, however, it is my turn for “giving” back as Linda is recovering from her knee surgery. Trying to remember the last time I took care of Linda…hmm, likely when she had her heart surgery many, many moons ago. Truth be told, I am probably a better care receiver than “giver” owing to the amount of practice gleamed from unfortunate…ummm.. mishaps that have befallen me to this point – I also take direction better than her, but shhhhhhh, don’t tell her I said that! While I tend to the wounded, Brad is going to once again take the helm of the USS Intrigued and sail us Down Under for another adventure in Kiwiland. Keeping with our “Newvember” theme (technically a carryover from last month), Brad will be bringing you not one, not two, but THREE new lifers! You can really tell when performance reviews are coming due around here, although he knows my opinion of the bird he snuck in at the end. Enough Bri, let’s get sailing.
Take it away Brad…
Very often birds will give us a full photoshoot pose package. They will stop to pose on the end of a twig in perfect lighting conditions. Some will rotate to show both their left and right sides. They will dip their heads to show us the color on top, and then give us a full view of the colors on their backs. Many will even show us their belly feathers or under their tails to complete the package. Then finally give us that face-on view that says, “We are done. Go away!”
NOT!
Photoshoots rarely happen this way. And today’s subject birds are no exceptions. However, most of today’s subjects did give us at least a few photos before being distracted by food someplace else.
Jan and I were staying for a couple of days in Rotorua, New Zealand. Our busy photo assignment had a small hole of time in the schedule one morning. Since we were staying at a hotel on Sulphur Point, we took a walk along a trail through the Sulphur Flats on the shores of Lake Rotorua. It’s really the Rotorua Caldera that has filled with water over time, but is still geologically active. Meaning it can get rather stinky at times.
The trail took us as far as we could tolerate the sulphur fumes which were quite strong. Thankfully, this morning, the wind mostly shifted to be from the south which kept most of the fumes blowing away from the trail and towards the lake itself. The prior night the winds had done just the opposite and we woke to very strong sulphur smells inside the hotel.
Jan and I walked about 1 kilometer (or just under ¾ of a mile) anti-clockwise around the bottom of the lake, starting at about the 6:00 position if the lake were an analog clock face. For those who only have digital clocks, go ask your parents or grandparents to show you an analog clock face. The first bird Jan and I spotted, about 50 meters (or yards) away on the sulfur flats were these black and white beauties.
Quite the cuties! Hit the jump to read about the rest of Brad and Jan’s finds.
Continue reading A Walk Around the Sulphur Lake…by Brad Marks
