I had only seen a Pōpokatea (Whitehead, Mohoua albicilla) once, pointed out by my father when I was a kid, before I started visiting Zealandia Te Mara a Tāne.

My first positive sighting came when another visitor, who seemed to know his bird lore, declared the noisy, active flock of birds around us was the Pōpokatea. I have seen them many times since, often in the company of smaller groups of equally agile Tīeke.

They move so fast they are hard to photograph, so I often have no idea what photos I managed to capture until I get home and have a proper look. This is by far my best of the few Pōpokatea I have managed to capture.

I was so pleased with this shot, I submitted it to Zealandia Te Mara a Tāne for inclusion in their fund-raising calendar. If you happen to have a copy of the 2023 calendar, take a look at the grid page for July.