(Image © Leila Jeffreys)
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1. an Australian cockatoo, Kakatoe roseicapilla, having grey wings, back, and crest and a pink body
2. Austral slang a fool or simpleton
When you first arrive in Sydney (and possibly all of Australia, for that matter) one of the first things you notice are the birds. Both colourful and noisy, Australian birds are hard to ignore. Their cries start as the sun rises and seem to go all day…
Perhaps one of the most noticeable types of bird are the cockatoos. Until I came to Australia, I had only ever seen a cockatoo in the zoo. Here in Sydney, they are everywhere and they have bold and loud personalities.
(Image © Leila Jeffreys)
Leila Jeffreys is developing quite the following for her bird photography, and when you see her work, it is easy to see why.
Leila’s love of birds has led her all around Australia and the world. She has photographed and helped scientists study endangered birds on Christmas Island; she has been welcomed into the world of pedigree budgerigar ‘best in show’ bird competitions; and she has photographed migrating birds across Europe.
She recently exhibited her Biloela – Wild Cockatoos body of work at the Tim Olsen Gallery which threw a bright spotlight on Australia’s incredibly beautiful cockatoo.
She says, “Now that I’m an adult, I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing than spending a day with some birds, getting to know them, them getting to know me and finding a way to cut through our differences until we’re left with one animal photographing another”
If I had a talent for photography and a passion for birds like yours, Leila, I think I’d feel exactly the same way…
(Image © Leila Jeffreys)
(Image © Leila Jeffreys)
If you’d like to learn more about Leila Jeffreys and her cockatoo series, or perhaps check out her budgie series (which was good enough for Jonathan Adler), you’ll get access her site here.
Tim Olsen Gallery still has available works of Leila’s for sale, too. What a Christmas present…
I think I am still mentally scarred by a pet bird I had as a kid….But that said I do love the colour of “Queenie”!
Have you been to the bird show at the Taronga Zoo? They have black cockatoos there – A M A Z I N G (and I am not a huge bird lover either)
There are wild cockatoos in certain places in the UK but sadly not in Devon where I live.
Maybe you’ll have to come to Sydney for a visit, Crazy?
That black one! So beautiful! :O My husband loves parrots/cockatoos for some reason… or likes to point them/birds out to me :/ I’m still more of a dog person.. they don’t always get along..
No Bella (the poodle) is not a bird lover, either. Perhaps a photograph is just the trick, then…?