Little Blue Penguin swimming photograph

nospam@example.com (Glen) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:51:50 +1200

Photo of a Little Blue Penguin swimming at Gulf Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand.

[little blue penguin swimming picture]

So ummmm yes it has been a while since I last photoblog'd.
Actually its been something like 9 months. :-) I have been taking photos during this time. Lots in fact.
About a 15,000 shutter count over the nine months taken in 7 different countries.

Its just the whole looking after my photoblog, and posting photographs I've been having trouble with.

Still onwards and upwards. So here is my first new photo. Its a nice little photograph of a Little Blue Penguin swimming.
It was taken in Gulf Harbour last Wednesday evening, about dusk. We had just returned from our trip to Tiritiri Matangi Island.
The penguin was swimming in the entrance to the marina. The wind was up, and the waves were a little big. I suspect it was just taking a brake before heading back out in to the sea.
Photographed of course with my wonderful Nikon D300 DSLR.

Some information about the Little Blue Penguin.

The Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor) is the smallest species of penguin. The penguin, which is about 43 cm (16 in) tall, is found on the coastlines of southern Australia and New Zealand.

Apart from Little Penguins, they have several common names. In Australia, they are also referred to as Fairy Penguins because of their tiny size. In New Zealand, they are called Little Blue Penguins, or just Blue Penguins, owing to their indigo-blue plumage, and they are called Korora in Maori. These birds feed by hunting fish, squid and other small sea animals, for which they travel and dive quite extensively. They are generally inshore feeders.

The Little Penguin breeds along the entire coastline of New Zealand, the Chatham Islands, Tasmania, and southern Australia. Little penguins have also been reported in Chile. It has been suggested that there might be a yet undiscovered breeding population in the Chilean part of Patagonia. In 2005 the first record of a living Little Blue Penguin has been reported from Ichaboe Island, Namibia.

You can read more over at Wikipedia.

Little Blue Penguin data. (NZ).

Maori Name : Korora.
Abundance : Common.
Status : Native, protected.
Found : Around New Zealand's entire coastline.
Both the Northern little blue penguin and Southern little blue penguin have a NZ conservation status of "Chronically Threatened". Threat classified as being in gradual decline.
Check out the Department Of Conservation's Penguin pages to learn more about what you can do to help.
http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/native-animals/birds/sea-and-shore-birds/penguins/

Little Blue Penguin swimming photograph information.
Image Description:	Little Blue Penguin swimming, Gulf Harbour, New Zealand.
Camera Make:	Nikon Corporation.	Camera Model:	Nikon D300 Digital SLR (DSLR).	Date:	15th April 2009.
Focal Length:	105mm	35mm Equiv Focal Length:	157mm	Aperture:	f/5.6
White Balance:	Manual.	Flash Used:	No.	Exposure Time:	1/800th of a second.
Light Source:	Cloudy.	Metering Mode:	Spot.	Exposure Mode:	Manual.
Software:	Converted from RAW using Nikon ViewNX. Post editing with The Gimp 2.4.
Accessories Utilised:	Nikon MB-D10 battery grip. Nikon EN-EL3e Li-ion battery pack. Scandisk Extream IV CompactFlash.
Photographer Comments:	None at this time.		Lens Used:	Nikkor 18-105mm VR DX lens. Yes the "kit" lens from the D90. Yes its a good lens.
Model Credit:	Little Blue Penguin.	Photograph Copyright: ©	Glen Webber 2009. All rights reserved.

GCN News:
I have made a number of small improvements in the background for this site. So it should be easier for me to post. Meaning that I should post more often.
We'll see if that works or not.
Also you'll see above that I've added a nice border to this photograph. This lets me display things nicely, while also retaining my copyright info and website URL.
Much better than the nasty was I was doing it before.
Also you'll see I've filed this under my New Zealand native bird photographs section. All going well I'll be adding more NZ sections as I add more pics.

Thats all for now. The Grand Prix is on soon and I'm off to watch that.
Cheers,
Glen.

Like my photos? Follow me on twitter @glen_co_nz.

Thoughts or opinion? leave a comment below, by clicking the comments link.

Glen Webber ~ NZ Wildlife Photography. - Gulf Harbour

Little Blue Penguin swimming photograph

Photo of a Little Blue Penguin swimming at Gulf Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand.

Some information about the Little Blue Penguin.

Little Blue Penguin data. (NZ).