Scarlet Macaw Flying from Sunlit Carara Branches

A Scarlet Macaw pushes away from the leafy canopy with red, yellow and blue wings opening around its body at Cerro Lodge and the Carara area in Costa Rica. Scarlet Macaws form long-term pair bonds; their red bodies, yellow-and-blue wings and long graduated tails make them unmistakable over Costa Rica's Central Pacific forest. The exposure of 1/2500 sec, f/5.6 and ISO 4000 holds the flight posture and major feather groups sharply while leaving restrained motion in the quickest wing tips; the photograph was made in natural light without flash.