Yank down under volume 4: Cockatoos...finally!

[FlyingSquirrel]

Dan, awesome threads covering your trip down under. Great shots and interesting stories. Thanks for sharing!

[pnodrog]

Dan some great shots. It is strange when you visit Australia to see so many birds that we normally only see in a zoo or as a prized and expensive pet just wandering cheekily around . (I exclude the Pukeko which we see most days). We are going over for a month next June and your photographs have made me very restless and impatient to get there.

[IzzieK]

I agree with you. During the water restrictions, these galahs just eat anything including eucalyptus leaves, flowers, etc. from my backyard (in Melbourne). They left a mess alright..

FWIW cockatoos are a pita. They devastate crops - I have seen them pull an ear of corn of the stalk, peel it with those dextrous feet, eat a few kernels, throw it away and pluck another ear. They will eat timber - as in timber balcony on your home, or decking. They will strip the leads from your tv antenna.

But they can be a joy to watch as they tumble through the air, seemingly performing aerobatics for their own amusement; or when they hang upside in the trees during a storm and splay their feathers to catch the rain.

[Bobobird]

I don't see what the problem is. We did take their space....they take your crop. Quite fair, no?

[NorthernFocus]

Dan some great shots. It is strange when you visit Australia to see so many birds that we normally only see in a zoo or as a prized and expensive pet just wandering cheekily around . (I exclude the Pukeko which we see most days). We are going over for a month next June and your photographs have made me very restless and impatient to get there.

I will say that when we visited your country in 2008, there weren't nearly the number of parrot types. But there was an abundance of shorebird species. I was just getting into bird photography at the time and didn't take any long glass on the trip my longest being a 55-200mm on an APS-C sensor body. But I did come away with a few shots. Here's a link to a gallery with NZ birds:

http://www.pbase.com/drr1531/nz_birds

Enjoy your trip across the water and good luck with the birds.

[IzzieK]

When your hands are full during the day with kids and dogs and other 'pets' they collect as they grow up and you have a graveyard shift at work, if you are not either married or this happens very close to 'home' you will never understand yes? 'Hope you are joking...

I don't see what the problem is. We did take their space....they take your crop. Quite fair, no?

[Bobobird]

Here we have the Canada Goose and the Raccoon. So yes, what else can one do but laugh about it?