Toledo November 12

This bear, either Crystal or Nuka, was stretched-out and dozing, and I was in the right place when it opened its eyes.

A chuckwalla, a type of iguana

This female rhinoceros hornbill was preening. She and her exhibit-mate have lived at the Toledo Zoo for at least 20 years, but there have been no offspring.

A female Raggiana bird of paradise

A superb starling. To me, the spots on its wing look like jewels.

A female Swinhoe's pheasant

A blue-bellied roller, one of my favorite birds.

An adult and baby emperor tamarins under a heat lamp.

A blue-bellied roller in flight?

I first became familiar with the blue-bellied roller a few years ago at the Toledo Zoo, and it's one of my favorite birds. The missing gardener and I were stunned when we saw flashes of sky blue on its wings when it flew. (We call such features "secret feathers.") Naturally, I want to capture those wings.

The rollers in Toledo didn't fly much. They mostly sat as high as they could under a skylight (the aviary is indoors), and we felt a bit sad as we projected wistful longing onto them. One June day in Columbus, a roller was flying back and forth between a perch closer to me and one farther away, and I seized the opportunity. Here's the far perch:

All I had to do was take a photo right after the bird lifted off. One of my early attempts wasn't good, but it gave me some confidence.

Things went downhill from there. Here's a liftoff from an artificial vine:

I made numerous attempts and concluded it was very unlikely that I'd be able to predict when the roller would take off. Also, I wondered if the camera's autofocus was fast enough to adjust to the bird's movement, so I tried manually focusing a little in front of the launch point. The lens doesn't have a distance indicator, so I had to guess, and the results were blurry.  Then I decided to try to take the picture before the bird landed. After all, I knew where the roller would land and when it was approaching. I got some half-decent shots, but none with wings fully spread.

January, 2024: Now I know I should have used continuous autofocus, which is made for moving subjects, instead of single-point autofocus, which is best for stationary or slow-moving subjects.

A different day I managed a cool shot:

I didn't even try to track the bird in flight because I don't have that skill. I'll keep practicing.

I had better luck in the parking lot one day. I could track this gull I think because it was farther away than the roller.

The roller does pose nicely.

Birds on a wire? Nope. On a railing.

I was surprised that a black crowned crane stood on the railing of the Columbus Zoo's Congo aviary viewing deck. I was more surprised that several birds spent some time there last Thursday. (In retrospect, I shouldn't have been surprised, given the poop on the railing.)


Here's another black crowned crane, but a juvenile. Its wings have adult coloring, and the golden crown is looking good, but the neck and body still have some brown, and the red cheek is still developing.

black crowned crane (juvenile)

The hamerkop and its partner were busy building a nest, but this one took a break.

hamerkop

The hamerkop's toes are partially webbed.

A hamerkop's feet

The blue-bellied roller is one of my favorite birds.

blue-bellied roller (side view)

blue-bellied roller (front view)

A speckled pigeon visited.

speckled pigeon

A sacred ibis preened.

A sacred ibis preens.

A sacred ibis's tail feathers