Endangered due to loss of habitat and hunting for trade.

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The bare part of his head (you can tell he's a male because of the red spot behind his eye) is supposed to be an adaptation to prevent matting from eating sticky fruits. They are highly specialized in what they eat, feeding almost exclusively on only a few species of figs. Listed as Threatened-Vulnerable, due to loss of habitat and overhunting for its feathers. Endemic to rain forests in New Guinea.

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Tags:   Pesquet's Parrot Vulturine Parrot Psittrichas fulgidus San Diego Zoo wiseass ImpressedBeauty Bird Watcher BEJ Nature Through The Lens AvianExcellence RubyPhotographer

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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.

Tags:   Micronesian Kingfisher Guam Kingfisher Todiramphus c. cinnamominus Halcyon cinnamomina cinnamomina San Diego Zoo NaturesFinest BEJ The Perfect Photographer TheUnforgettablePictures Nature Through The Lens Shield of Excellence SOE AvianExcellence SearchTheBest ALittleBeauty VosPlusBellesPhotos mywinners

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Explore #273, 8/22/08.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended my first "Early Hours" event at the San Diego Zoo, only to find out that the aviaries were not open until the regular time, so I decided to shoot the caged birds instead. Turns out it was a good thing I did, because I was able to get some good shots of these starlings for the first time. I had tried several times before and, although I didn't get anything worth posting, I did come to enjoy watching these birds because of their personalities. While I was there, the keeper arrived to clean the cage and feed them and I could tell that she really loved them, too, because of the way she talked to them.

These birds are hard to shoot because of the usual problems of shooting through wire, but also because they are so active. You can't get close enough to the cage, so auto-focus doesn't work because of the wire and it's difficult to hand focus, since they rarely stay in the same spot for any length of time. Prior to opening this series on my computer, I didn't really realize how beautiful they are, so I plan on making future attempts to try to capture that beauty. Besides, it's a lot of fun.

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Tags:   Grosbeak Starling Finch-billed Myna Scissirostrum dubium San Diego Zoo SuperShot TheUnforgettablePictures amazingamateur AvianExcellence NaturesFinest VosPlusBellesPhotos

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Explore #343, 7/10/08.

There were four or five females in this cage and I only saw this one male.
That seems about right.

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Tags:   Sulawesi Tarictic Hornbill Penelopides exarhatus sanfordi Who makes up these scientific names? San Diego Zoo The Perfect Photographer TheUnforgettablePictures ABigFave AnAwesomeShot AvianExcellence GoldStarAward mywinners

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