Another shot from the Great Bubbler Expedition to the Adelaide Zoo, September 25, 2011.

Canon EOS400D, Canon L EF lens, 400 fixed, 1/125th, f/5.6, ISO 400, handheld. Slightly cropped.

Every day there is a free-flying demonstration of the Zoo’s magnificent blue macaw. People sit around on the lawn and the bird swoops very close to heads, and children, and strollers, and everyone, as he goes in a pre-determined flightpath around a small park in the Zoo grounds. Once, some years ago, he actually landed on my shoulder as he winged his way across the park – truly a memorable experience. For just the briefest second I felt his weight as he landed and had a close-up view of his eye and his beautiful feathered face, before he took off again and landed where he was meant to. The keeper later told me that the bird had never done that before … I bet he says that to all the girls.

Anyway, on this occasion he stuck to the flightplan, but I found it impossible to track him with my 400 lens (frankly I couldn’t even see him!), and so I had to wait for one of his brief stops on the way.