The National Aviary of Pittsburgh is having a free admission for the remainder of 2007.  The National Aviary claims to have over 200 different species of birds which is quite a treat for someone that might not be able to travel the world.  For those going to the Aviary, you will want to considering going early as parking fills up rather quickly.  So after making a small donation, my first bird of interest is the Bald Eagle. 

 As a national symbol, the Bald Eagle is a remarkable site.  The Aviary has 2 which can make for some nice photography.  Keep in mind that you will be shooting through glass, so bringing a Polarizing filter will help reduce glare and reflections.  Plus you will want to go on a rather sunny day.

As a note to you photographers, not all of the birds are outdoors and thus this may present you with a problem.  Most of the birds are in glass enclosures with just regular lights.  This will require you to have either a very fast lens (2.8f or faster) and/or a camera with good high iso abilities (800-3200).  If neither of these work with your current setup, you will have a very tough time shooting indoors. 

Other areas that contain birds use primary ambiant light that comes in from the skylights.  However most of these are obstructed by natural habitat such as tree.  I’m not sure if flash photography is permitted indoors, but I noticed a lot of people with point and shoot cameras that were flashing away.

The Aviary also put on a nice demonstration that include a Tucan, Raptor, Owl, and Penguin.  This demonstration allowed visitors to get really up close and personal with the birds.  If you wish to see more of my photos from the Aviary, please visit my Wildlife Gallery which you can also see larger sizes.

Tags: Aviary, Bald Eagle, Pittsburgh

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 30th, 2007 at 5:20 pm and is filed under Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.