Due to the accidental introduction of the Brown Tree Snake on Guam in the late 40's, these beautiful birds are extinct there and exist only in zoos, where it has proven difficult to even maintain the population. The San Diego Zoo has at least two of them on display, living in separate cages, probably because of their aggressive nature. I've only seen the other one on a single occasion, but I can usually count on this guy to be out in the open and am usually drawn to him because of his loud call.
Photographing these birds is fun because they are so striking, but also because it's such a challenge. There are all the normal problems of shooting through wire, plus I'm always shooting into the sun and there are distracting objects with contrasting shades in the background. One of the pluses of getting in the zoo before the regular opening time is being able to take advantage of the usual overcast that burns off later in the morning. Even with that, I still had to blur the background and clone a dark spot out in the right third, behind his beak, with areas from the left two thirds. Another difficulty is that he almost always has his front side pointed towards me, hiding the beautiful blue feathers on his back.
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