In Absentia – Day Four | Andrew Skelton:

Posted by: Andrew Skelton | 01/07/2011

In Absentia – Day Four

Here’s another example of a photo that I actually had in mind before I took the snap; the macaws were moving around their perches with their beady eyes on me at all time, whilst I stood watching and waiting for them to get into the position I have envisaged. As with most animals, you just have to wait and hope… wait and hope… wait and, well, you get the idea. Luckily in this instance the two birds, still wary of me moved into exactly the place I had been waiting for and CLICK, shot achieved.

Macaws are brilliant birds, literally, with such vivid plumage (Norwegian Blue), as well as intelligence. Despite their domestication I’m always cautious when around them, after all a bit that can break a brazil nut shell could do serious damage to fingers and more importantly camera gear!

Of the whole family of Macaw’s it’s the largest of the breed that I like the best, the Hyacinth Macaw. With its vivid blue plumage and yellow beak and eye rims, it’s a very striking and elegant bird.

As with the Blue and Yellow/Gold Macaws, these parrots hail from South America, but unlike their more vivid relatives which are wildly dispersed, the Hyacinth Macaw is on the Endangered list of birds, animals, reptiles etc. Deforestation of South America is mostly to blame but the effects of the illegal bird trade has also made its mark on the numbers in the wild. Whilst this may not seem an issue if these birds are still alive, it does mean that the gene pool for wild birds is greatly reduced and as has been discussed with my postings on tigers, such effects can have serious health issues for animals in the long-term.

I do hope, as with all the other critically endangered creatures, that man’s efforts to protect this species is successful before it’s too late and that I might even be lucky enough to post photos here of wild birds I’m managed to snap.