Back in 2015, I had the opportunity to witness and photograph a pair of Eastern New Zealand falcons (found in the South Island of New Zealand)(Kārearea) mating at Wingspan - New Zealand's National Bird of Prey Centre. 

This pair (Male - 'Wink' and Female - 'Ali') was one of Wingspan's breeding pairs. Observing and studying this behaviour in captivity was invaluable to me as a wildlife photographer as it gave me an in-depth understanding of what to listen out for and look out for when trying to spot this behaviour out in the wild. 

A few years later, I was able to use this knowledge to witness and photograph the mating of a pair of wild North Island bush falcons. 

This series shows a frame by frame sequence of the pair mating.