Turquoise-browed Motmot, Copan Ruins, Honduras

In the field dawn to dark tomorrow here in the highlands of Honduras right down along the El Salvador border, so here is an early Pic for today from yesterday at Copan Ruins. Turquoise-browed Motmot delivering a spider to growing chick in a hole between two of the stones of the ancient structure. We watching this pair of Motmots for more than a hour and saw them make 20 or more deliveries to their hungry chicks. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. 1/1000th @ f4 @ ISO 1250. Processed in Polarr.

Scarlet Macaws, Copan Ruins, Honduras

A few years ago, efforts were made to reintroduce Scarlet Macaws to the Mayan Ruins at Copan, Honduras. The Macaw was sacred to the Mayans, and figures in the stone works and carvings of the site…and was, during Mayan times, a common bird of the region. It was expatriated many years ago, in the United Fruit era, when changes to the landscape for agriculture drove it out. The reintroduction has been a success, and there are about 20 pairs of Macaws flying free at the Ruins and nesting. There are chicks in the nests. And they have spread out from the Ruins to the surrounding area, so you see Macaws nesting in the hills and mountains around town. We were at the Ruins at feeding time…9 AM sharp, when fresh fruits are put out on feeding platforms along the entry-way to the main ruins. The birds come in close. As you stand near the feeders you have Macaws all around you. The challenge with big bright, hyper-active birds like the Macaws, is to get them in the frame at all, and I found myself resorting to a radical “point and shoot” method. I did not even attempt to frame the birds in the viewfinder or on the LCD, I simply pointed the camera at them and shot off a burst, moving the camera with the birds and hoping that the tracking auto-focus and auto-exposure would take care of the rest. It worked remarkably well…better than I had hoped, and I have some wonderful images to prove it. 🙂 This shot is of two birds contesting the feeding platform and is part of sequence of maybe 30 shots. It is all about color and action! Magnificent Macaws indeed. Sony RX10iv at 290mm. Program mode with birds-in-flight and action modifications. 1/1000th @ f4 @ ISO 500. Processed in Polarr. Full frame shot.