Pretty Birds

African Grey Parrot

Some of the animals at Hollywild Animal Park have been rescued from owners that could no longer care for them or that needed to find the animal a better home. Tank, the rhino I showed a couple of days ago, is one of Hollywild's rescued animals. He has been at the park for about twenty years now.

The park also has a few parrots that local owners brought to the park because they couldn't care for them any more. Above is the Park's African Grey Parrot. African Greys are extremely intelligent birds. Some have learned not only how to mimic words, but how to use them in context as well as teach other parrots how to "speak" English. Case in point. When I finished photographing this parrot, I told it, "Thank you." The bird promptly replied with, "You're welcome." This got quite a few impressed chuckles from the other photographers.

More after the jump.

Yellow-Naped Amazon Parrot

Above is Hollywild's Yellow-naped Amazon parrot. It has a yellow patch on the back of it's neck, i.e. the nape, hence the name. This bird was quite a talker and had a very clear voice. It mostly said "Hello" with various inflections, but it did use other words and phrases too. I believe it said "Goodbye" to a photographer that was leaving it. The bird also seemed to relish the attention as it always had this mischievous gleam in it's eyes.

Scarlet Macaw

Finally, I got to photograph this Scarlet Macaw. These are the birds that come to mind when most people think of parrots. They are large birds who need a lot of room. Their tail can be a couple of feet long for example. This particular macaw kept moving around the tree it was placed in which make getting good shots of it difficult. Still it was a beautiful bird.

The park also has a yellow-crested cockatoo which I only got to see briefly, and didn't get any particularly good photographs of it.

All of these photographs with the parrots were taken with the new Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII which I got to borrow from the Nikon representative. It is such a nice lens. I love how it makes the background blur out to such a smooth set of tones and colors. That blurring effect makes the subject stand out so nicely from the background.

Have a good weekend. Maybe stop by Hollywild if you are in the Greenville or Spartanburg area.

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Turs

Baby Caucasian Turs

One of the highlights of Hollywild's Photography Day event was getting to see these Caucasian Turs. Unfortunately, I don't recall if they are Western or Eastern Turs. Turs are from the Caucasus Mountains in southern Russia. The San Diego Zoo is the only other facility in the US with this same variety of Turs. The Turs at Hollywild are part of a breading program and are not on display to the general public. They are not very large animals, and they were quite shy with all of us sitting there photographing them. They spent a lot of time hiding from us and watching us as they didn't know if we were going to eat them or not. I'm sure the large cameras and lenses didn't help either.

More after the jump.

Female Caucasian Turs

There were a couple of babies in the herd already. The one in the top photograph was the oldest and most outgoing of the two. The other infant was completely black, quite cute, and very shy. It stayed in the shade so much I didn't get any really good shots of it. The two kids should have a few more playmates in a couple of weeks as several of the females are expecting calves. The female in the second photograph above was one of the more visible of the animals. She may have been the designated "lookout" for all I know about them. The thing that I find most interesting about the Turs are their eyes. Look closely at the female and you'll notice that her irises are rectangular and not round. Quite an unusual feature I believe.

Prior to the event, I didn't know that Hollywild participated in breeding programs like this, but I suppose I really shouldn't be that surprised. It is good to know that a place here near Spartanburg, South Carolina is helping preserve some of the world's wildlife.

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Proud Watusi

Proud Watusi

This is a Watusi. It is a type of African cattle. Hollywild Animal park in Spartanburg County has several of these in its' safari area. They have some of the most impressive horns that I've ever seen.

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Lunch Time

Zebra'a Lunch

During the Photography Day event at Hollywild Animal Park near Wellford, South Carolina, we were were able to drive around the "Safari" area in our cars at our own pace. The Safari area has a large herd of deer, llamas, emus, watusis (big African cattle), bison, and other cattle. This photograph is of one of the zebras nibbling on some hay near lunch time. I was starting to get hungry myself, although not for hay.

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Hollywild Photography Day

Tank

This past weekend, I went to Hollywild Animal Park for their Photography Day event. This was the second time that they have had the event. The first time was last month. It is held in conjunction with the Spartan Photo Center who arranged to have a Nikon representative present as well. The Nikon rep was there to answer questions about equipment as well as with a full stock of camera bodies and lenses that could be borrowed during the event. I borrowed one lens after lunch. The new 70-200mm, f/2.8 VRII zoom ... such a sweet lens. I want one!

More after the jump.

As part of the event, participants had access to some areas that are usually off-limits to the general public. First, we got to get close to Tank, the park's "working" white rhino. Tank was a tad camera shy at first, but he did eventually come over to pose for us. Today's photograph is one of the my favorites that I got of him while we were visiting with him.

It was quite a fun day. There were a lot of photographers at the event. I know that a group came down from Charlotte, North Carolina for it. My guess is somewhere around 40 or so photographers in all made it out to the park. The weather was simply perfect for it as well. It wasn't too hot, it wasn't too cold, and it was a nice partly cloudy day with plenty of sun and just enough clouds to keep the skies interesting.

Stay tuned. There is more to come from the day.

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Hollywild Animal Park

Peacock Strut

I apologize for the lack of posts recently. I had been busy getting ready for my parents to visit. They were bringing my son back and staying the weekend. So, I had to clean the house and get ready for them.

On Saturday, we went out to Hollywild Animal Park. Hollywild is a local exotic animal park that trains animals for Hollywood. Several of their animals have appeared in movies, television shows, commercials, advertising and promotional campaigns. They also have a small zoo set up to earn money in order to pay expenses for the animal's upkeep. The park also has a very popular Christmas lights display during the holiday season. In the zoo there are various exhibits, gift shop, picnic shelters, and a "safari" ride through their "Outback" which is home to European deer, Sitka deer, emus, bison, watusi, and other cattle. More after the jump.



My son really enjoyed feeding the baby goats and some deer. We got some nice photographs and had a good time. The weather was hot, but there was a nice overcast that softened the sunlight. I shot all of the photographs with my 18-135mm lens. I chose this one because I knew I would need the flexibility to capture wide and zoomed shots. It worked well and I'm happy with what I was able to capture.

The full gallery is here.

Emus:

The Good

The Bad

The Ugly

Peacocks

The Bold

The Beautiful

The Cocky

The End

Hoof Animals:

Alphonso

Solitary

Lakota

The "Outback"

Thanks for reading. Have fun and keep shooting.

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