Posts Tagged ‘falcon’

January 10th, 2010 Photo Blog 014 – Mount Cook Road, New Zealand

Hey there!

I figured it was time to share my next bunch of photo’s from my recent New Zealand trip, so here is a set taken from along the Mount Cook road which runs all the way from the bottom of Lake Pukaki to Mount Cook Village near the foot of the mountain. About 50 kms in all. The valley is such that no matter where you are along the road you will be sure of a great view of New Zealands highest peak.

Sunrise on Mount Cook road

I braved the early morning temperatures to make it along for this sunrise. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to get, given the time of year, the angle of the sun and the weather conditions etc. I didn’t get too much action with the sun hitting Mount Cook, but I was pleased when the sun rose a little higher and shed a nice warm light onto the grass and trees in the foreground.

Mount Cook road

Here’s a shot I took in the late afternoon as the sun cast some nice warm light and attractive shadows across the mountains. This is possibly my favourite photo of the Mount Cook area and it doesn’t actually contain Mount Cook. It definitely serves as an example of always checking whats behind you when you are taking landscape photos, as I had my back to Mount Cook when taking this one.

Mount Cook road

This image was made from around the same place as the prior one above when I turned around to find another amazing scene laid out beside me.

Mount Cook road

Back on the road and another beautiful scene unfolds.

A New Zealand Falcon

This last photo is of a bird that I didn’t identify until I came back home and googled for it. Turns out it is a Falcon, all I knew is that I saw quite a number of them during our trip and that I hadn’t seen any before.

This one was in a car park at the end of mount cook road and was feasting on what looked like a rabbit. It’s meal was too heavy to fly away with so the little guy was making the most of his catch where he stood. I was lucky enough to get to within a few meters without scaring him away and was enthralled. After a few minutes I figured I should just let him eat in peace.

So I guess thats all for now, see you next time!