Canberra Walk-in Aviary

[calissa]

My sister has been a big supporter of my photography--I wouldn't even have a DSLR camera, if she hadn't given me her old one. She has a few favourite haunts for taking photos. One of them is the Canberra Walk-in Aviary. This morning we met there for a photography expedition.

The lens she gave me with the camera is a longer one. Since the birds like to get up close and personal, she brought a short lens for me to borrow. I found it difficult to get used to and ended up switching back to the longer lens about halfway through. It allowed me to catch some of the shyer birds.

Not that lorikeets are in any way shy. Guests are given apple and mealworms, so there were a couple of birds waiting to ambush us as soon as we stepped into the aviary.







Gangster lorikeet says "I will cut you."


Growing up is hard.


King parrots are uncommon but far from rare in the local area. This one is a male--the females have green heads.


Much like the budgeriegar, cockatiels are an Australian native bird that has had great success as a pet.






Next up is an assortment of birds I don't immediately recognise and am too lazy to look up.



Mealworms. Nom.
















The aviary also has a Golden Pheasant. The locals have dubbed him Donald, for the hairstyle.





He looks even more spectacular in direct sunlight, but seemed a bit camera shy.

Comments

[bunny_m]

<3

[calissa]

:)

[umadoshi]

So many lovely vivid birds! *^^*

Cockatiels are (or at least were? I don't know many bird owners) fairly common pets here, too.

[calissa]

It was very lovely. I hope to go back again soon for some more photos.

I believe cockatiels are fairly common as pet birds around the world. Australia just also has them in the wild (though not around here).

[pantha]

Lovely photos!

My husband had a cockatiel that (because this is totally a sensible thing to do) was given to him as a being-born present. Umm, yeah. Totally sensible. He lived to be at least about 25-26 years, so I did briefly meet him. He was very fond of toast (as in, if you made toast, you had to also make him toast as otherwise he'd squawk until he got some).

[calissa]

Thank you!

Uh, totally practical, yep.

I knew that most species of cockatoo are long-lived, but I'm surprised to hear the cockatiels last so long, given their size. Your husband's cockatiel reminds me of my sweetheart's family dog. She had a similar fondness for toast and lived to 20.

[pantha]

Yeah, cause there's nothing more you'd like when taking home a brand-new, first-born, screaming baby than a new pet you didn't choose or ask for? *headdesk*

Alfie was, indeed, a very long-lived bird. A very long-lived, bad-tempered little bird with a penchant for toast... O_O

biiiirdiiiieeeeeeeees!

[onewhitecrow]

The precious quails! The red-eyed dove thing is definitely Australian, but the others look like a variation on collared doves and the blue parakeet is probably a colour morph of Indian Ringneck, which are the kind that live in London. Poor Donald. Good composition on all of these, though I think I like the teaser image best because colours.

Re: biiiirdiiiieeeeeeeees!

[calissa]

Rainbow lorikeets are certainly good for their colour!

[lark_ascends]

Your unknowns - first Indian Ringneck, second is a princess parrot.

Great photos.

[calissa]

Ooo... thank you!

Is it somewhere you'd like to visit together?

[winterbird]

I love all the bird photos, but that golden pheasant at the end is /fans self

[calissa]

Isn't he gorgeous? I have plans to go back, so hopefully I might be able to catch him in the direct sun.