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Bird photo competition winners

We asked you to send us photographs of birds visiting your gardens, and were blown away by the quality! Take a look at the winners, runners-up and judges’ favourites.

We asked for photographs of birds in your garden – and were blown away!

WINNER Colin Wilson PALMERSTON NORTH

This photo of a kererū – half asleep having filled its crop with tender kōwhai shoots – was taken on an overcast drizzly day. It was shot through my dining room window. The gentle rain was captured with the 1/500s exposure. The aperture of f5.6 gives a narrow depth of field and still allows identification of the kōwhai, but blurring of the native bush some 500m away. It was taken on a Nikon D500, ISO 1800.

I love watching kererū swooping up in the air, almost stopping as they apex and then swoop graciously down. Unlike the tūī, bellbirds, fantails, tomtits, whiteheads and shining cuckoo which visit my garden, the kererū is surprisingly silent and seldom makes any call.

WINNER Katie Tomlinson AUCKLAND

This photo was taken on an iPhone 12 Pro at roughly 3pm on an overcast and rainy day in Milford Sound.

I had pulled over in my car to take a photo of the beautiful view when this kea came flying down to see me. I held a rock out in front of me to entice the bird to check it out for a photo. Apparently, his name is Guillermo “Guille”, according to the Kea Database (a citizen science initiative from the Arthur’s Pass Kea Team; see keadatabase.nz/).

After I took this photo, I threw the rock away and he went and fetched it on foot!

It was such a lovely experience, but he then attempted to pull my rental car apart, which made the encounter a short one.

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