It's difficult to get good pictures of the smaller birds at the San Diego Zoo because they usually are in smaller cages surrounded by metal mesh.

In order to get a good picture, the bird has to be towards the back of the exhibit away from the mesh.

That also means that one has to have a long focal length lens as well as a short depth of field so that the front wire doesn't show up in the picture.

I got lucky recently with a good picture of a male gang-gang cockatoo:

The gang-gang cockatoo (Callocephalon fimbriatum), lives in cool, wet forests and woodlands in southeastern Australia and Tasmania. It has distinctive call, which birders describe as a creaky gate or a cork being pulled from a wine bottle. The name comes from possibly two New South Wales Aboriginal languages, Ngunnawal and Wiradjuri.

Because the gang-gang cockatoo nests in young trees, the presence of a significant number of older trees and the loss of feeding habitat throughout southeastern Australia due to land clearing has caused a significant reduction in the population of gang-gang cockatoos. Its conservation status is still listed as a species of "Least Concern," but that might change soon.

If you need a little extra push this morning, simply click here for some more mornings with Mother and Father Nature.

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Please join me in these special ActiveRain groups:

1. Out and About - Share specific events, places, and things to do with your target audience.
2. NAR 2009 Convention San Diego - Coming to the Convention in November? Check in here.
3. Guerrilla Marketing Tactics - Marketing that requires mostly ingenuity, creativity, time, and energy.
4. Inspired By Nature - Where you can come to relax among Mother and Father Nature's fauna and flora.
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