When my son moved to the Sunshine Coast, he rang me one night to tell me about the Yellow tailed Black Cockatoos that came back to a large group of trees which virtually surrounded his new home.
They arrive late in the afternoon and were gone again early in the morning. Many took over the next door neighbour’s yard where he had water drinkers out.
However large numbers filled the trees right along the roadway and up the hill behind my son’s house. The noise became deafening right into the late evening.
When we arrived for a short visit, I was looking forward to photographing these lovely birds, hopefully as they flew in as well as in the trees. I found that the only real chance to get the flight shots in good light would be in the afternoon through a gap in the trees about a hundred meters or so wide.
As I was unloading our car and taking our gear inside, I looked across and saw one of the birds flying across in exactly the right place for my photo.
As my camera was still in the car, I missed this opportunity. However it gave me hope that, on the next two afternoons before we were due to head for home, I might get some flight photos after all.
I went in to the neighbour’s yard and got photos of the birds in the trees.
Being late in the afternoon by the time they had arrived, the majority of these photos of the black feathered birds were not good as the cockatoos became lost in the dark background.
The better photos were of the birds that were more out in the open like the one pictured.
I’m afraid I can’t show a photo of this bird in flight.
On the two afternoons I had, I sat with camera ready but not one bird came through the clearing. They arrived all right but came from the far side of the trees out of my line of sight.
