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Iceberg, Antarctic, originally uploaded by blather.

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Close up: Gannet at Muriwai Beach, Northland, New Zealand, originally uploaded by blather.

Gannet Colony, Otakamiro Point, Muriwai Beach, Northland, New Zealand

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Black browed Albatross, Southern Ocean, originally uploaded by blather.
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Black- browed Albatross or mollymawk, Thalassarche melanophrys in front of a Southern Ocean wave. Yet another albatross on the World Conservation Union's Red List - listed as endangered.

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Australasian Gannet, Muriwai Beach, Northland, New Zealand, originally uploaded by blather.

Gannet Colony, Otakamiro Point, Muriwai Beach, Northland, New Zealand

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Albatross skimming the waves, originally uploaded by blather.
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Salvin's Albatross or mollymawk, Southern Ocean, Thalassarche salvini, originally uploaded by blather.
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Salvin's Albatross or mollymawk, Southern Ocean, Thalassarche salvini near the coast of New Zealand. Listed as "vulnerable" by the World Conservation Union.

Seen from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, en route to Antarctica to intercept the Japanese whaling fleet: Blog here »

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Whitehead chicks, native new zealand bird, originally uploaded by blather.

The Whitehead (Mohoua albicilla) or Popokotea is a small species of passerine bird endemic to New Zealand. I spotted these little guys waiting for their mother to feed them on Tiritri Matangi wildlife sanctuary island in the Haruki Gulf near Auckland.

The whitehead held a special place in Maori culture, especially as the hakuturi, a multitude of small birds sometimes called Te Tini o te Hakuturi - "The myriads of Hakuturi", the spirit guardians of the forest. In a Ngati Mahuta story, the culture hero Rata went into the forest and cut down a tree to make a canoe, but failed to perform the proper placatory rites to Tane, god of the forest. Whiteheads and Riflemen whistled shrilly at him in admonishment and gathered together the pieces of the tree until it stood whole again. This happened several times until Rata showed remorse and the birds felled the tree and made the canoe for him.

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Get high resolution version: South Piha beach, New Zealand, originally uploaded by blather.

South Piha beach, New Zealand, Monday evening at dusk.

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Get high resolution version: Sky Tower, Auckland, New Zealand, originally uploaded by blather.

The Sky Tower is an observation- and telecommunications tower located on the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets in the central business district of Auckland, New Zealand. It is 328 metres tall, as measured from ground level to the top of the mast making it the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, and the 12th tallest member of the World Federation of Great Towers.

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Kokako, native forest bird in New Zealand, originally uploaded by blather.
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Kōkako or Kokako, endangered native forest bird in New Zealand, photographed on the island of Tiritiri Matangi. It's one of the three species of wattlebirds in New Zealand, and is now endangered, due to predation by cats, stoats, possums, rats, mice, etc. It can't fly very well, and uses its strong legs to hop from place to place through the forest. Only 400 pairs are known to exist of this subspecies, the North Island Kokako.

On arriving on the island of Tiritiri Matangi, where there's around 16 of these birds in 220 hectares of regnerated forest. We were told "you'll be lucky to see one". In fact, we saw six!

In Maori myth, it was the kokako that gave Maui water as he fought the sun. The kokako filled its wattles with water and brought it to Maui. His thirst quenched, Maui rewarded the kokako by making its legs long and slender, enabling the bird to bound through the forest with ease in search of food.

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Get high resolution version: Tui in a tree. Tiritiri Matangi island, originally uploaded by blather.

Tui - known in English as the "Parson Bird" because of its white ruff. Spotted this on in a tree while on Tiritiri Matangi. They're quite plentiful on the island, and make lots of noise.They're clever birds, can can mimic lots of things - including humans and mobile phones - thank to their two voiceboxes! Some of the sounds they make are inaudable to humans - they're outside our spectrum of hearing. They're also quite agressive - I did see them involved in many tussles with each other as well as other species of birds on Tiritiri.

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Get high resolution version: Tieke or Saddleback, on Tiritir Matangi island, New Zealand, originally uploaded by blather.

Tieke, Saddleback, on Tiritir Matangi island, New Zealand. Largest of the arboreal insectivores in New Zealad's forest ecosystem, they're classed vulnerable. They're not shy. This one gave our yards to me for being anywhere near it's water bath!

The recovery of the Saddleback is considered by many to be one of New Zealand's greatest conservation success stories.

There are two sub-species: North Island saddleback (Philesturnus carunculatus rufusater) and South Island saddleback (P.c.carunculatus). All saddlebacks are extinct on the mainland, and live either in captivity or on islands. The most endangered of the two species is the South Island saddleback, with only 650 birds in existence. There's several thousand North Island Saddlebacks now.

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Sunset, off Masan, Korea, originally uploaded by blather.

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