My Feathered Friends

One of my favourite things to do outdoors is birding - find new bird species, photograph them, identify them and then learn about their behaviour, habitat, feeding and especially their songs and calls, so I can identify them when I hear them again. I will try to include as many pictures and as much information I can in these posts and I would love to hear about your birding experiences. Do you have some special stories to share? Do you have some tips to help me in the field?

Monday, February 20, 2012

Hyacinth Macaws

I visited the Montreal Biodome over the weekend and was fascinated by this pair of Hyacinth Macaws. I heard their screams from afar, but thought that it was the pair of Military Macaws creating the ruckus. But upon approaching the pair of Military Macaws, I realized that they weren't the only ones guilty of the loud squawks and later turned around and found this pair courting.

I had the worst light possible, being in the Rainforest region in the Biodome. The tropical vegetation was dense and therefore, the light was scarce. I shot these images at ISO 3200 and had to remove quite a bit of noise in Lightroom. The angles could have been better if I didn't have to shoot in between the bobbing heads of the visitors and being careful not to bump my lens into their heads either. Everyone seemed enthralled by this pair. Beautiful birds! I'm definitely going back to see them again.