New Zealand Land of Birds

Forest and Bird, Issue 302, 1 November 2001, Page 44

New Zealand Land of Birds

by Geoff Moon, 160pp hardback, New Holland Publishers, Auckland 2001, RRP$59.95. Geoff Moon has written more than 20 books and some of his photographic studies are recognised as icons of our natural world. For him to produce, in his mid-80s, a new-looking book is a pleasant surprise, and a delight. While the theme of New Zealand as a land of birds sounds quite familiar, his images of land and birds are largely fresh ones; the birds bounded with the glowing landscapes of a master craftsman.

Here is New Zealand’s wild margins exposed without embellishment; without unnatural filters, or digital manipulation. The result is fresh impact from pictures from even familiar places: New Zealand photographed in its natural freshness. The bird pictures are generally a fresh collection, too. Many of the bird photographs in this book are not only technically superb studies; more than likely the birds are also engaged in interesting behaviour. This is not a guide book, though there is plenty of information. It is, rather, a fine collection of work from a pioneer bird photographer who is still undertaking new and interesting studies.