About this website

Curator: Jewel Turinsky

I live in Auckland. I started viewing birds in earnest during the COVID lockdowns of 2020, when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said we could only leave our homes for exercise on foot. I was surprised how watching birds calmed the turmoil in my soul. 

Later, I found myself dreaming of birds even while at work. Within six months I had purchased a better camera. This is how it all begins. Photographers talk a lot about their cameras and also their injuries. I broke my foot quite badly in 2020. It is an active sport.

I have photographed birds on the North and South Islands, visiting most of the bird sanctuaries, and some outer islands too. It is the unexpected bird — the one I didn't know existed until I see it — that is worth more than gold. 

I love these birds and would do anything just to carve out a few more hours with them.