The Inquisitive Cockatoo • Travis Hale (Photography and Science)

The Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) is a very loud bird, and to be honest most of the time they tend to annoy me because they are just far more ‘loud' than most of the other birds. My poor daughter is also not a fan (at 3 years old) and because of that I have not had much of a chance to photograph them. Over the weekend I visited family in Upper Beaconsfield and as such thought it would be a great chance to try to capture some images of the birds. I know I am likely ‘humanizing' the birds but I must admit it did look like the bird (below) was displaying a bit of curiosity and personality in the side tilt of the head, and curiosity over me taking photos.

Because I was using a telephoto lens, I was a fair distance away from the bird however I was not stealthy enough for the ‘click' of the shutter to go unnoticed. Either way it was fun to capture the images, and slowly build my strength with the ridiculously big Tamron 150-600mm lens. The specific lens and camera combo weighs nearly 2kg, but the working distance is fantastic!