January 25, 2014 … scattered choices

Waiting for a friend to arrive for lunch is an opportunity.

In the heart of the city … these pigeons are in a planter box on Courtenay Place

I spotted this cluster of common rock pigeons (Columba livia) foraging in the base of a street planter box outside our chosen restaurant. These birds are regarded by many as “rats with wings” and are found throughout New Zealand except Fiordland For the most part they seem to live in symbiotic relationship with humans, though I am not sure what we get out of it.

Not sure if a fish has been spotted, or deep contemplation occurring

After lunch, I drove past Evans Bay in case the terns were still about. There were just a few left, and where the rest of the flock had got to is a mystery. Two photographic friends were looking for them around Shelly Bay and environs at the same time, with limited success. A few were out on the water and though they were some distance off, the sparking and splashing suggested they were among a school of fish.

Grand old lady soldiering on

Though I am less of an aeronut now than I once was, I am still easily distracted by aircraft of a certain vintage, so I had to seize the opportunity when the Convair CV580 belonging to Chathams Air whistled up from Rongotai, presumably on its way to the Chatham Islands. The basic airframe of all these ancient Convairs derives from the CV240 designed in 1947 as a potential DC-3 replacement. They were clearly engineered for longevity, and this handsome specimen belongs to my “golden age of aviation” 1945 through 1965.

Big and small

Homeward bound, I saw a yacht crossing the inner harbour. Close inspection of her transom reveals that she is aptly named “Running Free“, while the transom of the large (39,906 GT 4,253 TEU) Singaporean container ship “Kota Lukis” is much easier to read. I said “large”, and among the freighters that come to Wellington, so she is, but compare that with the newest generation of container ships such as the Maersk “Triple-E” series which, at 18,340 TEU has more than four times the capacity.

It’s a fantastic day outside and I have a wedding to shoot.

 

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