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New Zealand Robin


New Zealand Robin
Photo Information
Copyright: Janice Dunn (Janice) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3277 W: 148 N: 6163] (18832)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2006-02-02
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon EOS 300D, Tamron 28-300 XR
Exposure: f/5.6, 1/60 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Birds Of New Zealand, Robins of the World [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2006-02-03 3:22
Viewed: 8182
Favorites: 1 [view]
Points: 46
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
New Zealand Robin
(Petroica australis)
Maori: Toutouwai

There are three subspecies of this delightful bird; this is the North Island subspecies. They belong to the new world robins the Eopsaltriidae, and are not related to the Northern Hemisphere robins .

The New Zealand robin is endemic. On TiriTiri Matangi Island in the Hauraki Gulf north of Auckland, where I visited yesterday, they were very inquisitive and we were almost walking on them in some area of the bush. We didn’t of course! They are one of our friendliest forest birds.

They are smaller than a starling, larger than a sparrow and stand upright on long thin legs. They are dark grey to almost black with a white spot above the bill, and a greyish-white lower breast and belly.

Robins feed mostly on the forest floor with a diet of invertebrates supplemented with small fruits in summer and autumn. And they like it when you scratch the ground, hoping you will uncover a morsel for it to eat.

Robins mature at one year old and the breeding season extends from August to February, during which time each pair may raise three broods. Nests are usually built in forks of tree trunks or branches, and consist of a bulky cup of twigs, bark, fibres, and moss, bound together with cobwebs and lined with tree-fern scales, moss, fine grasses and occasionally with feathers and wool.

Robins are territorial all year but particularly during the breeding season when the male patrols his patch and sings from prominent perches.

www.sanctuary.org.nz/

Tiritiri Matangi Island (226 hectares) is one of the most successful community-based conservation projects in the world. In just 15 years unwanted predators have been eradicated, and the once-pastoral island has been replanted with native trees. Thousands of volunteers have planted close to 300,000 trees, restoring pasture to native forest and creating a home for some of New Zealand's most endangered birds.

Once forest and wetland habitats were restored, DOC (Dept of Conservationand the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi Inc. began to return native birds like the takahe, kiwi, kokako, saddlebacks and stitchbirds to the island. The open sanctuary status allows visitors to experience some of the richest birdlife in the country.

And each bird has a bracelet to identify it. I’m not sure what the colours mean, but I would think it would have something to do with the year it was born and even the breeding pair that it came from.

www.doc.govt.nz/Conservation/Showcase-Areas/Tiritiri-Matangi-Island.asp
coasties, dew77, wallhalla15, goutham_ramesh, petrudamsa, ellis49, marhowie, pauljk, Luc, fiyo, livios, hummingbird24, PDP, metcher has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Luc: Merci LucJanice 1 02-08 04:20
To sAner: Hi PieterJanice 1 02-05 16:35
To jimbob: ThanksJanice 1 02-04 22:34
To goutham_ramesh: Thank youJanice 1 02-04 03:41
To annagrace: Thanks AlliJanice 1 02-03 23:57
To coasties: ThxJanice 1 02-03 03:49
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Critiques [Translate]

Janice,

Another well composed and etailed pic of the bird. The POV and DOF also great - again! TFS, Sheriff

Hi Janice

Nicely done. Good DoF and good catchlight. Well composed. What a sweety. Good job! Thanks.

  • Great 
  • dew77 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4432 W: 248 N: 4028] (13270)
  • [2006-02-03 6:09]

Hello Janice!
Very nice capture.POV,catchlight in eyes,
DOF,pose of bird and your cute model are
wonderful.TFS...:-)

Wow Janice,
today you and Pam will show us beautiful birds from NZ. Congrats, I like this picture too. Excellent note, very nice composition, excellent sharpness, colours and POF/DOF. Your bird is a lady - three rings! ;-) Thank you for this beautiful presentation.
Greetings
Heinz

Hi,

Nice Note, Good Composition and good pic i think f-8 would have yielded better DOF . I like the catchlight in the birds eye. Did you use fill in flash?

Regards
Goutham R

beautiful and fine portrait.
It's probably a female, for she wears some nice coloured bracelets :-)

Regards, Petru

Hi Janice,
Excellent shot. Exposure looks great with the nice colors and sharp detail. Poor little guyhas been banded a few times hasn,t he.....
Scott

Hi Janice,
a beautiful Robin. The composition and POV are very good.
Lovely colours and good details.
Very well done, my friend.

Todays is it tropical heat, blue sky and very sunny ;-), no I'm joking.
It's full snow storm at the moment but it's not cold, -2C.

Hello Janice,
Great exposure and sharp detail. It's well composed with a good POV also. Very nice shot of this New Zealand robin!

Hi Janice,
Lovely image. Nice neutral colours and a bang on exposure. You have placed the bird nicely in the frame and great seperation from the background. These guys look hard to capture as I guess they move about pretty fast.
Thanks, Paul

  • Great 
  • tinman Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 242 W: 7 N: 458] (2663)
  • [2006-02-03 15:50]

Lovely shot and wow - what a lot of rings on its legs!!! TFS

Hi Janice,
so many rings on such a small bird, very elegant ;-) Is it modern to wear this in New Zealand ;-) Just joking.
It's so pretty and so sharp, excellent work, very well done, thanks
Sabine - wishnugaruda

Wonderful capture, Janice, with perfect sharpness and DOF. Why does he have so many bands?

Have a great weekend,

Alli

  • Great 
  • fiyo Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1053 W: 5 N: 3475] (15161)
  • [2006-02-04 4:29]

Hello Janice,wonderful capture.POV,colors,sharpness and composition are excellent.TFS

  • Great 
  • livios Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2150 W: 319 N: 4263] (16942)
  • [2006-02-04 11:20]

Janice, maybe, I'd try to add a little bit more of sharpness, but it's just an opinion.

Apart from that, excellent sharpness, composition and pov. I like pose and catchlight too. Lovely colors.

  • Great 
  • SkyF Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2234 W: 188 N: 1912] (8073)
  • [2006-02-04 15:09]

Very nice Details, compostion and POV are great. Well done.
SkyF

Hi Janice,

A great shot of these fast moving birds, good lighting under the canopy.

Great composition, with excellent details, colors, POV, BG and exposure.

Perhaps a wee bit soft in focus however, he sure is a cutie otherwise.

Thank you for sharing him Janice!

  • Great 
  • sAner Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1455 W: 74 N: 1426] (4750)
  • [2006-02-05 10:12]
  • [+]

Hi Janice,

This is a very well composed picture with a nice DOF. The blurred bg makes the bird stand out wonderfully. I do think the focus is a wee bit soft though. Did you crop a lot? Well done & TFS!

Regards,
Pieter

  • Great 
  • PDP Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor [C: 2821 W: 344 N: 3779] (11769)
  • [2006-02-06 17:06]

Hello Janice, nice shot. Funny looking Robin! Lovely detials and a very nice pose. God composition too, I like his bangles.

  • Great 
  • Luc Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1835 W: 301 N: 4287] (14767)
  • [2006-02-07 23:44]
  • [+]

Je n'ai pas le loisir ces jours-ci d'écrire des commentaires ou des éloges dithyrambiques et panégyriques sur vos travaux.
Et j'ai encore moins le temps pour les traduire dans vote langue maternelle.
Mais je vous prie d'accepter sans ambages le maigrelet icône qu'on me permet de vous octroyer en récompense pour votre travail assidu, source de joies pour mon regard quelques fois ébloui, comme cette fois-ci encore.
Merci Janice.
Ka kite ano...
Kia ora and cheers!

Hi, Janice.
Nice composition of this beautiful bird. Good details and DOF.

  • Great 
  • pat Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 87 W: 0 N: 125] (414)
  • [2006-03-05 5:02]

Hi Janice,

Very funny picture of this sober looking bird, who seems to have mixed up his socks of different colours :-)
Great sharpness and many nice details on plumage. Great background too.
Tanks for showing, Patrick

  • Great 
  • piton (209)
  • [2006-03-13 15:12]

Hi Janice, very nice capture, very good composition, colors.
Regards.
Hasan

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