The course of the seasons is a piece of clockwork, with a cuckoo to call when it is spring. - Georg C. Lichtenberg
Considered as harbingers of spring in many parts of the world, the cuckoos are a family of birds that always intrigue me.
These bird typically lay eggs in the nests of other birds and on occasion, even push out the existing eggs in the nest. So - they are not really welcome and are usually chased away by other birds.
As such, to get them out in the open is not so easy. While their melodious notes are heard often, they always lurk around in clutter of branches.
Therefore, I set out on a mission to collect portrait shots of some beautiful cuckoos.
They can be spectacular in their appearance...
The closest encounter I had with a cuckoo was a with a Jackobean cuckoo. This guy was somehow more curious about me and my car. At one point of time he got so close that I almost cut off his hair in the photo..😀
Just look at that funky hair-doo !! It took all my skills of panning and all the fast frame rate and focusing ability of my camera gear to capture this shot as he directly flew at me and landed right on my car hood for a split second.
He kept hopping around and I kept firing away to capture some funny poses..
Here is one where he seems to be imitating a fighter jet landing on an aircraft carrier LOL
Though shy, some cuckoos can be very dramatic sometimes. For example, this fork tailed drongo cuckoo flares it's tail feathers and looks grand!
In all my 5 years of wildlife photography, I have seen this bird only once and I had to wait patiently and follow him till I could get this click with a beautiful pose!
Last but not the least, this banded bay cuckoo, with it's lovely pattern on body with a combination of white, brown and black, is another beautiful cuckoo. Again, this one is usually found in core jungles only and not easy to spot. If spotted, it is usually in a clutter and it takes hours of patient follow up to get a clean shot.
Isn't it beautiful ?
So - there. That is my story of going cuckoo about cuckoos.
What do you think ? Do you think it was worth spending time to capture these cuckoos in my camera? Have you attempted or would you attempt anything like this in photography? If so, please share your experience in comments.
Please comment freely and let me know your opinion. I will try to bring many different types of wildlife photos/macro/Astro posts to the community. Feedback and comments are welcome,. I am still learning many techniques and always value feedback from experts in this community.
Have a nice day everyone. Cheers!
