Chorus cicadas - not all individuals negotiate metamorphosis successfully

Chorus Cicadas - nocturnal transition from nymph to adult

Arctic Master Post

Tākapu/ Australasian gannet preening in the last of the evening light. @edinzphoto #nikonz8 #bird #nzbird #nzbirds #newzealand #newzealandbirds #birdsofnewzealand #birdsofinstagram #nikon #nikonnz #birdphoto #birdphotography #aotearoa #nz_birds #your_best_birds #feather_perfection #birds_adored

Back in Oslo - a climatic and cultural shock moving from an Arctic wildness to a hot summer in the city. The final instalment of my Arctic travelogue.

New Year 2026 Visitors. Some unexpected visitors brighten New Year's Day 2026

#bird #nzbird #nzbirds #newzealand #newzealandbirds #birdsofnewzealand #birdsofinstagram #nikon #nikonnz #birdphoto #birdphotography #aotearoa #nz_birds #your_best_birds #feather_perfection #birds_adored #best_birds_of_world #bird_brilliance #okareka #rotorua #nikkorz800mmf63vrs #tui

Hamerkop photographed on our first day in Moremi with @edinzphoto @chris_mclennan1 #nikon #nikonnz #southafrica #botswana #wildlife #photography #birdsofsouthernafrica #wildlifephotography #birdphotography #nikonz9 #nikkorz180600mmf5663vr #chrismclennanphotoexpeditions #hamerkop #birdsofsouthafrica

Muriwai Gannets Revisited 2025 - delighting in the gannets of Muriwai after a cyclone triggered hiatus

Nikon Z9 Firmware 5.3 Surpasses Nikon Z8 for Birds and Wildlife Photography - Nikon Z flagship squeezes pst the Z8 to the front of the queue again.

A Final Visit to the Longyearbyen Dog Yards - after disembarking we had another day in Longyearbyen and revisited the birds at the dog yards.

A Farewell Gift from a Svalbard Reindeer - anticipation and luck deliver a nice background and pose

Arctic Fox - the value of time in maximising photographic opportunities during a special encounter with Arctic fox kits

Svalbard Landing - our final full day starts with a Svalbard landing in search of reindeer and Arctic foxes

A Final Bonus Polar Bear - just as we are departing Smeerenburg, a final Polar bear sighting

Walrus - landing at Smeerenburg gives us an opportunity to photograph a huddle of walrus

Photo of a Dead Bird Wins Wildlife Competition - confronting images can communicate an important message

NZ Geographic Photographer of the Year 2025 - Dr Edin Whitehead wins wildlife category with a powerful image of an Antipodean albatross chick

Smeerenburg Birds - bird photography opportunities at our Smeerenburg landing

Smeerenburg Landing - a historical whaling site now home to birds, walrus and prowling Polar bear

Little Auk - small alcid with the cute factor

Brünnich’s guillemot or Thick-billed murre is one of the commonest Arctic seabirds and the largest extant Alcid following the extinction of the Great auk

Arctic Landscapes - so many opportunities to explore

Wai-O-Tapu - geothermal landscape. Hosting a visiting friend reminds me of the geothermal photographic opportunities on our doorstep.

Rotorua Bird Photography Workshop - inaugural workshop with 8 great photographers

New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year Finalist again - 2025 Edition.

Arctic Drama - a successful Polar bear captures a seal painting the ice red

Moving Through a Mirror World - endless options with reflected subjects and backgrounds suspended between sea and sky

Polar Bear Hunt Continues - frustration for our guides as many bears located but none as close as we would like

Ivory Gull Ivory Gull - a polar bear kill provides our best opportunity to photographic this small, all white high Arctic gull

Polar Bear. Days of searching in difficult conditions finally rewarded with a great sighting.

Hunting Polar Bears in a Low Contrast Landscape - as visual hunters we struggle where bears succeed by following their noses. Post processing yields images closer to our recollection.

Nikon Z8 Better than Z9 for Bird Photography (again) Nikon Z8 Better than Z9 for Bird Photography (again). Firmware version 3.0 adds in-camera focus limiter so Nikon Z8 jumps ahead of the flagship Nikon Z9 for bird photography

Arctic Pack Ice - we reach our destination to begin our Polar bear hunt

Still Water Still Water offers opportunities for some different images

A Surfeit of Swallows A Surfeit of Swallows - a prolonged hatch of aquatic insects provides a conveyor of swallows to practice flight photography.

Spitsbergen - dramatic landscapes and ice formations on our voyage north

Inka Pleiss provides a crash course in stable isotope analysis for dietary studies across populations in the ‘champion migrator’ Tītī | Sooty Shearwater. #seabirds #BirdsNZ2025

Isabella Brown is using accelerometry data to understand at-sea behaviours and energy expenditure associated with those behaviours for Kuaka | Common Diving Petrels. #BirdsNZ2025 #seabirds

Edin Whitehead presents an overview of 10 yrs of work by the Northern NZ Seabird Trust. Longevity estimates, genetic relatedness, and lots of work to try to count NZ Storm Petrels are giving us new insights into this little known species, among others. #BirdsNZ2025 #seabirds

Sebastião Salgado - the world loses a great photographer and a great human

Heading North Map showing context of our Arctic exploration from Svalbard. North of Scandinavia and Iceland, east of Greenland Having boarded Polar Front it was great to finally be heading north. It is always exciting heading into wild places and more so when it is a new environment with new…

On Board Polar Front - a day late but worth the wait

Blue Mushrooms - Trying to photograph the feeling of seeing a fabulous flush of blue forest fungi. Adapting perspective and lighting to find an image.

Nictitating Membrane Mitigation - burst mode gives options to choose the best image

Moving Over to the Dark Side Creates a Brighter Mood Moving Over to the Dark Side Creates a Brighter Mood - moving your viewpoint creates a polar opposite image

Why Rotorua is Great for Bird Photography. Plentiful birds bring plentiful opportunities in the Bay of Plenty.

Rainbows Require Clouds and Rain. Even if it seems initially that conditions aren't ideal, good things happen.

Lakefront Sunrise - there's always something good happening at the start of the day

More Little Things and some bigger things. Revisiting little friends and a life change.