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Sony Forums Challenges | all galleries >> Challenge 86: Life in Motion (hosted by MFC & David Parry) >> Challenge 86 Exhibition > edit image
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20-MAY-2004

4th
White Noise

by

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita)
Outer Suburban Melbourne, Australia

Pondering over a new title after recycling this from an earlier Challenge, I heard one of these characters
go past outside and the title presented itself. Their call is such a raucous, ear-splitting screech that
it grows on you in a warped, masochistic way, and you kinda miss it when they're not around! ;-)

If you're game, you can find long and short MP3 files of the call here. While you're in that
site, if you have time for just one other sample then do listen to our Eastern Whipbird.

Canon EOS 10D
1/50s f/11.0 at 135.0mm iso400 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time20-May-2004 15:22:30
MakeCanon
ModelEOS 10D
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length135 mm
Exposure Time1/50 sec
Aperturef/11
ISO Equivalent400
Exposure Bias
White Balance (-1)
Metering Modematrix (5)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Programaperture priority (3)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Guest 10-Feb-2005 02:59
Neat site for bird calls, Mike. The Whipbird's call is slightly unnerving :) Thanks for the additional info and for your beautiful photo. Bev
Guest 08-Feb-2005 22:11
Thanks folks, and especially to MFC for your perceptive input regarding contrast and colour when I first uploaded it a few Challenges back. - Mike
Helen Betts05-Feb-2005 23:17
Well, I like this one as much now as I did before. Beautiful piece of work. Helen
Sony Forums Challenges04-Feb-2005 01:59
This is beautiful, Mike...the wings fully thrust forward..the whole scene a motion blur except for the clarity of the head and feet. Nice color contrast and composition too. Well done. MFC
roberta03-Feb-2005 04:10
Simply beautiful and dream-like.
Guest 02-Feb-2005 10:17
Mike, this photo truly rocks. I love it. Best cockatoo photo I've ever seen. I have a small gang of these guys eating satsuma plums out the back of my place at the moment. "Hooligans of the air." Nothing better when camping than waking to a boiled billy of tea, breathing deeply of the wet eucalypts and listening to whipbirds (http://biology.queensu.ca/~mennilld/Australia/EAWH.mp3 ).
Guest 29-Jan-2005 06:04
LOL! David, with such praise I'd better come clean and reveal that it took 2 images to get this the way you see it. It was grabbed in a hurry with an even slower shutter speed than I'd be game to use if I'd been trying for something like this. I must have fluked the tracking just right, because that whacking great set of claws was pretty sharp; but there must have been secondary motion of the head which wasn't at all clear. I had to pinch the head from another shot taken seconds earlier. But at least it was the head belonging to the same cocky! ;-) - Mike
Guest 29-Jan-2005 05:28
Mike, this is an absolutely stunning photo. The motion of the wing outstretched with the head in focus...totally amazing. I don't think I have seen a better cockatoo photo. David