Australia has many truly amazing birds and the Cockatiel is definitely one of them.
Canon 5DIII, Canon 100mm L IS USM
I have been lucky enough to see Cockatiels in the wild but I was too far away to get close-ups (one wild Cockatiel image shared below). The Cockatiels in the first two images are captive birds living in a large flight aviary.
Cockatiels are the smallest cockatoo species. They are predominantly grey, which looks warmer in the late afternoon light in the shots below. They have dark eyes, flushes of yellow and orange cheeks. I love the detail of its raised crest.
1/800, f/5.6, ISO 800
Canon 5DIII, Canon 100mm L IS USM
Pairs of Cockatiels share the incubation of their eggs which are laid in tree hollows. Many birds have pair-bonding rituals, especially birds that share raising their nestlings. The Cockatiels above are grooming and preening each other, this pair-bonding ritual is called allopreening.
Canon 7D, Canon 100-400mm L IS USM
This is one of the wild Cockatiels I saw when I was on the Tanami Track out of Alice Springs. It was amazing to see them fly in to bathe and drink. I was a long way from the far side of the dam and was using my first Canon gear – I’d love to have this opportunity again with my new gear and a few more years of experience.
Happy birding, stay safe, Kim
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Lovely birds indeed!
Would be interesting to see the difference with the updated gear….(in the wild)
I do like the 2 first pictures a lot!
Thanks for your inspiring posts!
Thanks Paul, you sound like me, I love fine details. My new gear lets me get that kind of detail from a distance. Wouldn’t it be neat if I could magic myself back there! I’d definitely be lying flatter on the mud to get a view across the water.
They are absolutely gorgeous. I have never had the opportunity to see them in the wild. Someday…
I adore that mutual preening (which I didn’t know was called allopreening). I see it here with the cockatoos and the corellas and it melts my stony heart each and every time.
Thank you.
And how are you and your dogs doing? Better I hope. Much better.
Allopreening is definitely a sweet thing to watch. It makes me even stronger in my belief that there is absolutely nothing wrong with anthropomorphism. My poor dogs are doing well from the first and second bout of issues but now my old dog seems to have ruptured her cruciate ligament, just waiting on vet advice now. They’ll start charging me rent soon…
Pffft (and that is polite) to anyone who believes that other species don’t feel emotion.
I am sorry that you having to spend so much time (and money) with the vet. I suspect that they welcome you though – because you care. And hope that your poor old dog can find some relief.
Thanks EC, for your ‘pffft’ and your kindness about my poor dogs