Soaring from the Depths

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Story Behind the Photograph: Soaring from the Depths

Just one person can make an enormous difference.

While helping lead a wildlife photography workshop in Brazil, my group and I visited Buraco das Araras (Hole of the Macaws), a large sinkhole located on the edge of Rio de Prata in Brazil’s southern Pantanal. At 500 meters round and 100 meters deep, Buraco das Araras is South America’s largest sinkhole.

The history of this sinkhole illustrates how one person can change the world for good. A couple of decades ago, looking at a gigantic sinkhole on his property, a Brazilian farmer wondered what to do with it. Once a nesting site for Red-and-green Macaws, few came around anymore: they were harassed and shot for target practice, and the hole had become a dumping ground filled with trash. But the landowner turned things around, closed off the area, and cleaned up all the trash. The macaws returned, and this became and remains an important nesting site for these magnificent birds.

Despite the success of this location, in recent years there has been a marked decline in the worldwide populations of all macaws due to habitat loss and illegal capture for the parrot trade. Macaws, parrots, and parakeets are captured by the tens of thousands each year. To cage a bird so social, acrobatic, and joyful in its exuberant flight, makes my heart hurt. Especially after seeing it in the wild, I can’t imagine the torture of captive life for such a creature. These are birds that need and deserve to live free and wild, and in longstanding, bonded relationships with a mate--not as decoration or companionship for humans. If you really yearn to have a bird in your life, know that there are thousands needing adoption. There are specialized adoption networks for them, as they, with life spans of 50 years, often outlive their owners, or are abandoned. Sanctuaries are also in need of people to re-home parrots and macaws, to help alleviate the problem of overcrowding in these rescue facilities. Please follow the work of World Parrot Trust and Birdlife International to learn how you can help, either with adoption or with these organizations’ conservation work in the wild.

In the sinkhole, my guests and I were awestruck by what a fantastic destination this was for birders and bird photographers. Two-story wooden platforms at either end afford visitors wonderful views into the vast recesses of the sinkhole. Precipitous pink sandstone walls rise up from a green lagoon and lush forest at the base. Most spectacularly, vibrant Red-and-green Macaws soar and wheel in flashes of color. They come to rest, often in pairs, in crevices along the cliff faces, or on the branches of rugged trees rooted in the sandstone. These birds mate for life and constantly engage in tender bonding behavior, preening one another gently, locking beaks, or simply resting pressed up close from shoulder to tail. Here, they soar from the depths and thrive in freedom.

About Untamed Photographer

Untamed Photographer is an online art gallery that brings together wildlife photography and stories from a range of international environmental artists, both emerging and established.

Structured as an online marketplace, Untamed Photographer offers a selection of handpicked, limited-edition works of art, alongside the photographers’ compelling stories of what occurred in the wild to get the shot. The exclusive limited-edition pieces are printed in Miami and come with an artist-signed certificate of authenticity from their respective worldwide locations.

The Nature Trust of the Americas (NTOTA) was founded with the mission to give back. While building awareness for NTOTA’s causes, the founders met talented nature photographers who are passionate not only about photography, but also about saving the planet. Their life’s work and stories are inspiring, and their art, passion and stories deserve to be shared on a platform that benefits the environmental causes they are dedicated to.

Just as the photographers preserve the beauty of the planet in their art, Untamed Photographer is dedicated to preserving the planet for the future. All profits from photographs go to Untamed Photographer's two pillars: the artists and causes that protect the environment, ecosystems, and wildlife.

About the Photographer: Melissa Groo

Melissa Groo is a wildlife photographer, writer, and conservationist with a passion for educating people about the marvels of the natural world. She believes that photography can be both fine art and a powerful vehicle for storytelling, and considers herself a “wildlife biographer” as much as a wildlife photographer. It is her mission to raise awareness and change minds about not only the extrinsic beauty of animals, but also their intrinsic worth.

Melissa is an Associate Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers. She writes a bimonthly column on wildlife photography for Outdoor Photographer magazine, is a contributing editor to Audubon magazine, and advises National Audubon Society on photography content and ethics in bird photography.

In 2017, Melissa was awarded the Katie O'Brien Lifetime Achievement Award by Audubon Connecticut, for demonstrating exceptional leadership and commitment to the conservation of birds, other wildlife, and their habitats. She also received NANPA's Vision Award, given to a photographer every 2 years in recognition of early career excellence, vision and inspiration to others in nature photography, conservation, and education.

In 2020, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology released "Bird Photography with Melissa Groo," an online masterclass in beginning bird photography. It comprises almost 40 videos featuring her instruction.

Melissa's association with the Lab goes back to when she worked in the Bioacoustics Research Department from 2000-2005 on elephant communication. She was a research assistant for scientist Katy Payne on The Elephant Listening Project, and spent field seasons in the rainforest of central Africa studying forest elephants in the wild, where she learned to listen deeply and watch closely.

Her photographs and articles have been published in numerous magazines including Smithsonian, Audubon, Outdoor Photographer, National Wildlife, Living Bird, and Natural History. Melissa has received awards and honorable mentions in national and international photography competitions. Her fine art prints are in personal and corporate collections, and have been exhibited in numerous private galleries as well as a number of public venues, including the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.