Roy Lockwood
July 2026 - Macaw Squabble
About the Image(s)
I was fortunate to be able to travel to SW Costa Rica and be able to photograph many wild animals there. These Macaws had just finished feeding on palm nuts and were staging for their flight to the roosting area. Not sure what precipitated their disagreement.
4 comments posted
Roy - There's a lot going on here. The image has immediate impact, and the first thing the viewer notices is the riot of color and the interactions occurring between the birds. Nice job capturing two examples of intra-species behavior; as we often say in wildlife photography, story is king, so kudos-two stories for the price of one :-)
What gave me pause for a moment were the two lower birds beneath the immediate eye-grabbers. My eye went first to the pair on top and then briefly stalled while trying to decipher the relationship and orientation of the lower subjects.
The birds are well-positioned within the frame, and the barren branches provide structure while the softly blurred background keeps attention on the macaws.
You never mentioned the equipment or settings, so I'm curious about the focal length and exposure choices. The birds might be a tad sharper, although that could simply be a limitation of PSA discussion group resolution rather than actual softness.
In competition, I think this image could score very well because of the dual interactions and sheer visual impact. My only quibble is that the strongest high-impact wildlife images take the viewer on a seamless visual journey. Here, the viewer briefly pauses to interpret the lower birds, which interrupts theflow of the composition.
Posted: 07/03/2026 21:24:40
What gave me pause for a moment were the two lower birds beneath the immediate eye-grabbers. My eye went first to the pair on top and then briefly stalled while trying to decipher the relationship and orientation of the lower subjects.
The birds are well-positioned within the frame, and the barren branches provide structure while the softly blurred background keeps attention on the macaws.
You never mentioned the equipment or settings, so I'm curious about the focal length and exposure choices. The birds might be a tad sharper, although that could simply be a limitation of PSA discussion group resolution rather than actual softness.
In competition, I think this image could score very well because of the dual interactions and sheer visual impact. My only quibble is that the strongest high-impact wildlife images take the viewer on a seamless visual journey. Here, the viewer briefly pauses to interpret the lower birds, which interrupts theflow of the composition.
Posted: 07/03/2026 21:24:40
Thanks for you comments Butch. I took a hundred pics of this interaction and this was the best separating the chaos these guys were making. You mentioned on your photo, that you moved away from the group, here I walked away from the other photogaphers found a hole in the forest and got this shot.
As you can see it was a few hundred yards out with late in the day light, ISO 5600 800mm f/6.3 1/2000. Photo equipment today is so great! Posted: 07/03/2026 22:02:39
As you can see it was a few hundred yards out with late in the day light, ISO 5600 800mm f/6.3 1/2000. Photo equipment today is so great! Posted: 07/03/2026 22:02:39
Hats off to you Roy! This is a fantastic moment with two times two Macaws, the two pairs being almost perfect mirror images of each other. Branches are on the left side, not disturbing the birds. The green color of the background contrasts the scarlet feathers of the birds well. The crop is perfect. This was a lucky capture for you. Posted: 07/08/2026 13:53:06
The mirroring of the subjects creates a very powerful image as well as the contrast between the blue on top and red on the bottom. The background is also fantastic. This is a just a great well composed and edited image! Posted: 07/10/2026 12:50:44