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Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival November 17-21, 2004 in Brevard County, Florida A celebration of birds and wildlife. |
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Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival November 17-21, 2004 in Brevard County, Florida A celebration of birds and wildlife. |
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I am truly blessed to be able to make a great living photographing birds. And while I have been photographing birds for more than 21 years, each day that I head out into the field with a big lens is more exciting than the very first time that I went out in back in August 1983... One of my biggest thrills comes from knowing that my images are often used to help protect the very birds and places that I love. BIRDS AS ART is fortunate to be able to donate images to a wide variety of conservation and environmental organizations such as Audubon of Florida, New Jersey Audubon, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, the Florida Birding Festival, and the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival (among others).
One of the nation's oldest independent environmental research organizations, the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences conducts original research on the world's natural systems and wildlife, and has had a long-standing commitment to the conservation of my beloved shorebirds. These remarkable birds face ever-increasing threats from development and its resulting habitat loss, disturbance by humans, diminishing food resources, and a host of other problems, many of which are encountered on their grueling migrations.
For eight years in the late eighties and early nineties I conducted a shorebird survey for Manomet's International Shorebird Surveys at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in NYC, counting more than half a million birds, mostly by ones. This work and my passion for these tiny globe-trotting migrants led directly to the production of my first major book, Shorebirds; Beautiful Beachcombers. The surveys assemble baseline data that is essential for the protection of both shorebird habitat and shorebird populations.
Another of the great delights in my second career comes from knowing that I have opened up the wonderful world of bird photography to hundreds, if not thousands of folks around the globe. First and foremost, I have done that through a variety of publications, most notably via The Art of Bird Photography which quickly became the classic how-to work on the subject when it was released in 1998. Additionally, I get to meet many folks at seminars, festivals (like the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival!), and on my BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tours. As fate would have it, I have made many truly wonderful friends and helped in the development of many excellent bird photographers, many of whom have also made generous contributions to the conservation community through their work.
2004 Festival Articles
2004 Keynote Speakers
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