| It's quite an excitement to see this cuckoo today. I was turned back by the "closed" sign at the head of the informal trail and approaching the observation tower when I saw a bird fly by overhead and go into the canopy of a tree by the tower. Because of my bad eyesight and backlighting, I could only make out the shape without any detail. But it was a decent size bird, and definitely not a blue jay or woodpecker. For some reason "yellow-billed cuckoo" came up in my mind. Can it be? I certainly hoped it was. I got to the tower and searched for the bird for a few minutes in the canopies, and then it jumped out to a relaitvely open spot and I got a quick but confirming look through my lens and lost track of it, for the next half hour. Just when I was about to give up I heard loud calls and the cuckoo landed on a tree to my left as I looked up. For the next half hour, the cuckoo was very active and flying up and down catching food. It would be gone every now and then for a while and re-emerge a bit later. Its catches included a caterpillar and even a tree frog! At one point it landed on a branch a few meters in front of me when I took this shot. This was the first time I ever saw a cuckoo in the wild. I was so happy that I did stick around and get to see this beautiful bird! |
| Aperture: 5.6 | Shutter: 1/250 |
| ISO: 1000 | Flash: Fired, On, ETTL -1 1/3 |
| FL: 400 mm | Lens: EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM |
| Distance: 6 m | Species: Cuckoo, Yellow-billed |
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