Three Spoonbills

Today is the official observance of the Queen’s birthday in New Zealand (and, of course, it’s the central weekend of her Diamond Jubilee). To celebrate the long weekend, I am showing a royal subject: a group of Royal spoonbills (Platalea regia) that I observed last week from Orpheus Drive. They usually are somewhere around the Manukau Harbour, but it has been a few years since I last came across them. Shortly after this shot, they attempted to land again on the breakwater of volcanic rocks behind the mangroves, but they made a right royal mess of that, and took to the air again, landing successfully after rounding the spot once more. (Blue sky would have been a bonus, at least there was good light,)

[For Monarchy in New Zealand, check out wikipedia. Queen Elizabeth II is Queen of New Zealand (official title: “Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of New Zealand and Her Other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith”) and 14 other Commonwealth realms apart from the UK.]

Helter Skelter