Octavio Campos Salles Photography

A pair of Red-and-green Macaws (Ara chloropterus) flying over the forest in Brazil. A Red-and-green Macaw (Ara chloropterus) flying at the Pantanal. These birds can fly great distances to reach their favorite fruiting trees. Macaws are very social and playful birds, and this pair of Red-and-green Macaws (Ara chloropterus) are no exception. I photographed this during an extension tour I offer to shoot these magnificent birds in flight. On previous trips I noticed that there was a situation and place where the macaws would often do these acrobatic maneuvers while flying, but photographing this action was extremelly difficult because it lasts only a fraction of a second. It's really fast. So when I got this shot, well framed and perfectly focused, I knew I had something special. This photo won 1st. place on the major bird photography contest in Brazil in 2011, the Avistar. To check this year's photo tours to the Pantanal and this place included, please visit www.octaviosalles.com.br/blog_en A Red-and-green Macaw (Ara chloropterus) coming for a landing at the side of a cliff. A pair of Red-and-green Macaws (Ara chloropterus) flying inside a natural sinkhole in south-central Brazil. I shot this during one of my tours there. It always amazes me how fast and beautiful these birds fly. Their colors just pop out of the environment. They come to this place to nest on small caves at the vertical walls of the huge sinkhole. This photo was featured at a National Geographic book in 2010. A small group of Red-and-green Macaws (Ara chloropterus) flying over the forest. I used a slow shutter speed here to show some of the speed of the flight. A macaw's day usually start at or before sunrise, when they fly away from their roosting sites in search of fruiting trees. This may involve short or long flights, covering considerable distances over the forest. One intereresting theory tries to explain why these and other parrots roost together: other birds may see the enlarged craw of a bird and thus be benefited by following it the next day, as it probably found a good source of food, with abundant food. At the place we visit during our extension tour after photographing the jaguars we find lots of Red-and-green Macaws (Ara chloropterus). Sometimes one might perch close enough that allows for some close-up shots with a long lens. This time, instead of going for the usual portrait, I focused on the wing pattern as the macaw stretched them. The colors and shine of those feathers are absolutely stunning.This is one of my favorite photos from that place, and I have it printed large on canvas in my office. A group of Red-and-green Macaws (Ara chloropterus) in flight. The background is natural shade. A pair of Red-and-Green Macaws (Ara chloropterus) flying together. Several studies have shown that all macaws mate for life most of the time. They nest in natural holes like those on live or dead trees and also in crevices and caves on cliff walls. These birds will defend and even fight for their preferred nesting place well before the actual nesting season. The shutter speed on this photo was intentionally slow to capture some of the blurred wings and background. A Red-and-green Macaw (Ara chloropterus) photographed during one of my photo tours. These macaws fly inside a very large natural sinkhole, allowing for amazing photo opportunities at eye-level. This shot was taken on the extension trip of my jaguar photo tour. The background is natural shade. There is one particular spot at a certain time of the morning that the sun will hit the flying birds only, but not the background. The hardest part is getting the bird in that small window of opportunity for this kind of shot. Red-and-green Macaws (Ara chloropterus) usually pair for life. Here at this spot they breed in crevices on the vertical walls of a deep natural sinkhole. A true nature spectacle. This was shot during the extension tour of my last Jaguar Photo Tour to the Pantanal. Check next year's dates at http://octaviosalles.com.br/blog_english/workshops/jaguar-photo-tour-2011/ Macaws, like most parrots, are very playful. I liked when this couple did this upside down play and assumed this sort of "bat-like" posture. Shot during my photo tour to shoot the flying macaws, A Red-and-green Macaw (Ara chloropterus) sit and watch at the edge of the sinkhole in Brazil where hundreds of its species nest and roost. A pair of Red-and-green Macaws (Ara chloroptera) flying over the forest in Central Brazil. Check out my blog post about photographing at this place at http://www.octaviosalles.com.br/blog_en/