On a recent visit to Bason Botanic Gardens, near Whanganui, I was trying to photograph a black shag in a tree high above the lake. I was interrupted by a grey warbler that was fliting around a tree right in front of me. These birds are common, and widespread, but difficult to photograph. I got some pictures of the bird in full song, that I am thrilled with. It’s a bird I remember well from the farm in South Taranaki, when I was a child, their song so beautiful, you hear more often than you see it. They are tiny, just 6 grams, the same weight as a rifleman, and vying for the smallest bird in NZ. It’s only because of its longer tail that it misses out on this title. It would take 166 of them to weigh a kilo!
