While photographing animals in a zoo can be a great way to capture images of creatures from all over the world, it can also be challenging. One of the biggest challenges is dealing with the bars or manmade backgrounds that are often present. These elements can be distracting and make it difficult to get good shots.
In this blog post you can see a selection of ten of the best images we took of birds during a recent visit to the Zoo of Jerez de la Frontera. It is important to be patient and wait for the birds to cooperate, without distressing them. The best photos often come when they are doing something interesting like eating, playing, preening or bathing.
When we arrived at the aviary of the Black Storks, one of a pair of birds was resting at the back of the field, but the other one was just taking a bath. We waited patiently and when it came out of the small pool, its wet black feathers in combination with the setting sun and the contrasty red beak made for our favourite photo of the day.
The biggest difficulty to photograph the birds of prey in their enclosure is to make the metal bars go unnoticed in the final image and get the right position to have an uncluttered background.
Many people would argue that Black Vultures are scary and ugly, but we think they're really cuddly. We tried to capture their friendly nature in the photo above.
They are actually the biggest bird species from the Iberian peninsula. Their population here dramatically declined during the twentieth century due to poisoned baits and inadequate woodland management. The population is now composed of 1,500 pairs, of which most live in Extremadura.
Since 1992, the chicks produced from the captive population in zoos are reintroduced in Central France.
The Zoo of Jerez is home to many ducks, swans and geese. We photographed the Black Swan above while it was preening its feathers backlit by the sun.
Cassowaries are normally very wary of people, but when threatened they can pose a real danger to humans because of their extremely sharp claws. In the zoo of Jerez they are very difficult to photograph, that's why we opted to take a close-up of the head, showing its dinosaur-like features.
We had the same problem with the Scarlet Macaw. Its aviary doesn't offer any good position to take a good photo of the whole bird, so again a close-up of its magnificent feathers brought the solution, showcasing the beauty of this amazing animal.
It often takes a lot of patience to obtain a decent photo of a bird eating, but with this Cape Barren Goose, native to Australia and Tasmania, we managed to capture an interesting shot.
Backgrounds in a zoo environment can often cause a problem, but we were very pleased with how the soft brown wall in the Nicobar Pigeons aviary added a soothing touch to the above photo.
The last image is also one of our favourites, not surprisingly another species of vulture: the spectacular Bearded Vulture.
Vultures often bear an unfairly negative reputation due to their association with death and decay. While these birds are scavengers that feed on carrion, playing a crucial role in ecosystem health by efficiently cleaning up carcasses, their vital ecological contributions are frequently overshadowed by cultural perceptions. In reality, vultures help prevent the spread of disease by swiftly disposing of animal remains, and their keen scavenging abilities contribute to maintaining a balanced and hygienic environment.
We hope this blog post inspires you take photos from a different angle the next time you visit a zoo with a camera!
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