Jurassic Bird by wysiwig
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
I visited the zoo in Bukittinggi where I encountered a most unusual bird. It looked positively prehistoric. Meet the Northern Cassowary (Casuarius unappendiculatus), a native of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The Cassowary has wings but cannot fly. It can reach a height of 69 inches (1.8 meters) and a weight of 82 pounds (37 kilograms). When threatened it can kick you with its powerful legs and slice into your skin with its razor sharp claws. It can then run away at speeds up to 31 miles per hour (50 kilometers per hour) or jump 7 feet (2 meters) into the air. It is also an excellent swimmer.
Male and female Cassowary live alone until it is breeding season. The female bird lays green eggs in a nest made by the male. The male takes care of the chicks for about 2 months after which the chicks live on their own. The birds communicate through a series of low, booming sounds. A helmet or casque on the head of every Cassowary is used to make these low frequency sounds. If the bird looks familiar its because it is related to the emu. They are members of the same family, Casuariidae.
The quality of this image is not the best. The original showed the bird behind heavy railing but using the capabilities of Photoshop CS5 I was able to delete the railing and show the parts of the bird previously hidden. Very impressive software.
Comments (20)
You're right whe you call him jurassic, is like a velociraptor with feathers. Cool shot of this rare bird! (Can you call "bird" an animal of that size? You Know, I feel like if I call Lizard to Godzilla).
He does look like from a different time! Good thing he's not 30' high!
EXCELLENT shot and description!
Yeah and that original fence was there for a reason. These birds are dangerous, and can (and do) easily kill humans. Their claws are like daggers, and if disturbed become extremely aggressive. Even without the claws, one kick from their legs will break your bones clear through. They also live here in Australia. Nothing at all against your photo mate, but I'm yet to be convinced about content aware in CS5. I've been using it since it came out now, and I just think the cloning it does is SOOOO obvious. See the circles on the bird's body and the splotches on the neck. The other photographers I work with too find the same problems. Once you use it, you then have to go back and manually clone over the content aware.........which defeats the purpose of using it in the first place!! The current algorithms CS5 use are a step in the right direction, but it's still so primitive. It seems to work OK on abstract stuff, but still samples and repeats areas way too obviously. Case in point the spots above the bird's rump. Sorry to use your photo as an example again. The people who buy my work would throw it all back at me if I only relied on content aware!!!!!!
saw the birds also only captured. As the natives of West Papua hunt them a lot. They use its leg bones as knives and tools too. here are 3 of them (among others tools from my travels)
Excellent work.
Extremely regal! I have seen these in our Bird parks and am astonished afresh every time.
Oh my goodness what an amazing capture, he is like nothing I have ever encountered. Superb photo, thanks, hugs Jane xx
ERxcellent capture , beautiful colors and photo !
Very cool and strange in a delightful way
A very impressive, magnificent animal. I have great respect for him ... Jurassic Bird fits like the fist on the eye! (I'm but not violent)
SUPERB CAPTURE
Awesome capture of this strange looking bird!!
I see a smile warm hugs, Linda
WOW, what a beast! awesome capture
The CASSOWARY is also a native here of Australia, North Queensland to be precise (the tropics) they are related to the EMU, but is more solid and has massive legs ... the colouring of their heads is always remarkable, About the cloning - he looks rather more slim, than solid ;-) still a nice catch Mark, BB
It must be mating season, it looks like he ? is looking for a friend. Wow that is one heavy bird.
Yes, you are right he is prehistoric looking but what fantastic colors! From what you describe, I'm sure you would want the fence quite a bit higher (like 8 feet Lol). As his feet look rather nasty with those big toenails, wire mesh between the rails might be nice too. :) Spectacular info and shot.
they are really jurasic for sure , excente info and capture , great document
I love these birds and yeah, they do look as if they're very direct descendants of the crested dinosaurs. They were pretty amazing creatures, I'd guess and this is a pretty amazing bird. I'd love to see a few of them in person. Great colors and I love the mating-call-amplifier growing on top of the head. This is a fantastic find and a great shot.