Oh Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was going to head out to Waikuku for a dawn shot this morning but couldn't drag myself out the door early enough so I headed down for a wander just around lunchtime. Had lunch at the Brick Mill then headed off on the Taranaki Walkway. 
Was quite chuffed to immediately spot a kingfisher on a post with his lunch although he was a bit far away to get a super clear shot. But all was not lost, I saw a couple of Spoonbills with some lovely reflections. As I walked on I spotted a kingfisher in a tree and got some better shots. A kingfisher bagged for my blip I thought
But NOOOOOOOOOOO - as I was heading further into the trees i saw a large bird flapping between trees. I immediately thought it was a wood pigeon as they are pretty large but the shape was wrong. As I got closer and better light I saw it was a hawk. It followed me  / I followed it along the path for some time and took about 100 shots of it as he sat in a tree within throwing distance. It was just one of those unbelievably exciting moments. It has been my absolute ambition to capture some decent shots of a hawk since I started photography over 35 years ago. this chap literally just sat in a tree and looked right at me.
Here are some more pics on my flickr page. 

Was so excited I texted Flying to tell her :-)