Manganui o te Ao ducks

I visited the Manganui o te Ao river for a morning last June. This is a river well known for its healthy population of whio / blue ducks (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos), but a place I had never actually been before. It is a bit of a detour off the main highway, and after a friendly local put me back on track (and just a little cursing Google maps!) I managed to get to Ruatiti Domain, right next to the river not long after sunrise. I needn’t have stressed about missing the warm morning light because heavy mist enveloped the entire valley.

Female paradise shelduck — Unlike most birds, the female paradise shelduck is the more colourful—males being mostly black.
Canon 50D | EF600mm f/4L IS + 1.4xTC | 1/250 | f8 | ISO400.

Male paradise shelduck — This male paradise shelduck is giving his distinctive *zonk-zonk* call. When photographing birds like this it can be difficult to keep detail in the black feathers without over-exposing small patches of white. Soft overcast light helps to lower the contrast.
Canon 50D | EF600mm f/4L IS + 1.4xTC | 1/125 | f8 | ISO400.

Blue ducks are lovely birds. Endemic to New Zealand—and nowadays found only in relatively pristine, fast flowing rivers—these special ducks can pose many challenges to a wildlife photographer. They are dark coloured, and often their environment is too. They have largely been forced into the more remote and difficult stretches of forested rivers by predation and habitat loss, and professional camera equipment is heavy and fragile.

When I got to the famous whio viewing spot I was a little sceptical. Although I had already seen three ducks upstream where the road crosses the river, this place just seemed a bit too easy. On the bright side, soft sunlight was starting to pierce the mist. Just moments after I parked, a pair of paradise shelducks (Tadorna variegata) landed at the edge of the river just a few metres from the vehicle. I didn’t have many good parry photos at that point, so I assembled my gear and crept down to the river. This pair were wonderfully cooperative, the light was now great, and I came away with some lovely keepers.

Whio portrait — The distinctive black flaps on the sides of a blue duck’s bill tip can be easily seen when cooperative birds pose like this.
Canon 50D | EF600mm f/4L IS + 1.4xTC | 1/200 | f8 | ISO400.

The shelduck shooting soon came to end when a pair of blue ducks appeared from downstream, flying low over the heads of the shelducks and landing just metres from me. One of the pair wore coloured leg bands—evidence of the management carried out by the Department of Conservation which is giving them some respite from predators here. With the sunlight diffused by mist and patchy clouds, and reflected off the big pale cliff on the opposite bank, exposing for these often tricky subjects was made a little easier. The golden water also made a nice change from the dark boulders they are often seen around. I was able to spend a couple of hours with these obliging ducks before they eventually floated down stream to feed, and I came home with hundreds of keepers including some images I am very happy with.

I’ll soon be uploading a selection of photos from that very productive morning to my gallery.