New Zealand Scaup (Papango) with Ducklings

A tender moment captured in the Tauranga wetlands, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, featuring a New Zealand scaup (Papango) swimming gracefully across calm, reflective water with her fluffy ducklings close at hand.

The warm sunlight highlights the mother’s rich chestnut plumage and the soft brown down of her chicks as they glide together across the still water — a perfect example of New Zealand’s native wetland birdlife and family behaviour in the wild.

This heartwarming nature image showcases the Papango, an endemic diving duck species, in its natural freshwater habitat.