Picton Harbourfront

For two weeks I had been commenting (Jo would say ad nauseum) that we had not seen any Black-billed Gulls. The guide books told us they are common, we were looking in the right places but everywhere we went we only saw Red-billed Gulls (= Silver Gulls) and Black-backed Gulls (= Kelp Gulls). I was beginning to despair that the Black-billed Gull was a myth until after lunch today when we were walking along the Picton harbourfront, we were almost tripping over them...

Black-billed Gull, Picton, Marlborough NZ
Pentax K-5, Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm, ISO 400, f/5.6 1/1000

Black-billed Gull, Picton, Marlborough NZ
Pentax K-5, Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm, ISO 400, f/5.6 1/800

There was also a family of Paradise Shelduck seemingly unperturbed as people walked past only metres away from them.

Paradise Shelduck (female), Picton, Marlborough NZ
Pentax K-5, Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 140mm, ISO 400, f/4 1/1000

Paradise Shelduck (male), Picton, Marlborough NZ
Pentax K-5, Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 122.5mm, ISO 400, f/4 1/640

Paradise Shelduck, Picton, Marlborough NZ
Pentax K-5, Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm, ISO 400, f/5.6 1/500