I have been a bit slow at uploading new photos recently. It’s that time of the year again when work, and life in general, seems to go into overdrive trying to get certain things done before the world grinds to a halt for a few weeks in late December. This is the worst time for nature photography, in my opinion. Beaches are crowded, many birds are looking scruffy in their old feathers, and the sun is too high for much of the day. Of course there are still loads of opportunities if one cares to look, but I hope to spend more time catching up on processing earlier photos. I have managed to add a couple of new shots of a reef heron shot on the Coromandel Peninsula, and a little egret that is a long time resident of a small coastal wetland in Hawke’s Bay. Little egrets are rare stragglers to New Zealand, and when they do turn up it is usually at a coastal wetland or estuary.