Just because I love both photography and alliterations, I present to you Wildlife Wednesday. (this may or may not become a normal occurrence.) This week: BIRDS!
The truth is, I never really wanted to study birds.
I’ve known many people who have fallen in love with these amazing feathered creatures and I fought it for a long time. I admire their ability to fly and their grace in the air, but I never really fit in with the so-called bird nerds. Birds are relatively easy to study and the fieldwork is plentiful. So I took the jobs. Surrounded by bird obsession, I felt almost guilty for not being so crazy about them. After mist netting giant humming birds in Ecuador, tagging California Condors in Big Sur, and searching for bald eagles and peregrine falcons in Alaska, they started to weasel their way into my heart. I can’t identify them by sound or flight pattern and I still haven’t become a fanatic, but I have a great deal of respect for our feathered friends. I owe them my career in conservation as they were the catalyst of many of my travels.
A grey-backed hawk cocks its head at my lens in Ecuador.
A Northern Hawk owl with piercing eyes in the Yukon.
A gull takes off in the evening light in Eureka, CA.
I hope you enjoy this particularly Wild Wednesday. Breathe deep and exhale. The elections are over (with a sigh of relief.) The dust from Hurricane Sandy is settling (well not really.) The air is buzzing with tensions from politics and the wake of natural disaster.
I’m now on my way to the Oregon Coast to escape for a few days. Surf and sand to cleanse this restless mind.
It’s a wild world. Like a bird with wings full of wind, do your best to enjoy it.
Amazing photos!! Outstanding
Thanks! I appreciate it!
Beautiful images. I’m slowly becoming a bird nerd myself! I mean how awesome are owls, seriously.
Thanks, Sox! Birds of prey RULE.
I love the photo of the seagull, bravo
Very nice pictures- it is hard to look away from the hawk.