Wordless Wednesday

Brinkley, Ark., February 2006
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Wordless Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday

Florida
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Wordless Wednesday

Salineno, Texas, November 2005
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Wordless Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday

Siena, Italy
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Wordless Wednesday

Arizona Sonora Desert Museum near Tucson
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Contests! We got yer contests here!

Through the magazine and on this blog, you have multiple chances to win prizes from WildBird and our partners. Take note of the upcoming deadlines -- some occur this week! -- and get in on the fun.

First Friday fiction contest
Deadline: Thursday, May 6 - tomorrow!

The birding community encompasses incredibly talented individuals who play with words well when not enjoying birds. This monthly fiction-writing contest gives those wordsmiths a chance to apply their skills to 500-word tales about birds, birders or birding.

Other criteria:
* The tale includes four elements: a setting, a character or characters, a conflict and a resolution.
* It does not anthropomorphize birds.
* You send your wordsmithery to wildbirdATbowtieinc.com before 5 p.m. PST on the first Thursday of the month, and you include your mailing address.

Why do we need your mailing address? The winner gets to choose a prize from recently published books on WildBird's shelves. For instance, the prizes for the May contest include "A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica," "Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America," "Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Western North America" and "Bald Coot and Screaming Loon: Adventures in the Curious, Mysterious and Remarkable World of Birds."

You'll find examples of previous winners' stories in the blog's right-hand column.


Forum Focus/Lister's Forum
Deadline: Friday, May 7
Backyard Inquiry/Birder's Back Yard
Deadline: Friday, May 7

In every issue, readers will find questions in the Lister's Forum and Birder's Back Yard departments. Chosen responses -- which demonstrate actions that benefit birds and/or birders -- will appear in a future issue, and one of the responses will garner the Backyard Birder or Forum Birder title as well as prizes such as books from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and a gift pack of Swarovski Optik items.

In the November/December issue, the Backyard Birders and Forum Birders appear with the Birder of the Year ballot, and all readers can vote for the most deserving candidate. The winner will appear in the March/April issue and receive a Swarovski binocular, such as the EL 8x32, and a guided trip to a birding hotspot. The 2008 winner, Connie Kogler, described her June 2009 trip to Costa Rica.


22nd Annual Photo Contest
Postmark deadline: Friday, May 14

Every year in the March/April and May/June issues, WildBird publishes the entry form and rules for the annual photo competition. Thanks to generous participation from sponsors, we can offer first-, second- and third-place prizes to the winners in five categories -- amateur, backyard, digiscoping, flight and shorebirds -- as well as a grand prize: a Canon EOS 50D.

Participants can enter two entries per category, and the postmark deadline is May 14 -- so you can take the envelopes to the post office next Friday and remain eligible for judging.

The judges continually feel stumped when faced with the incredible quality of the finalists' images. They look for tack-sharp focus, particularly at the bird's beak and eyes; action; composition; and lighting. (I cannot stress enough the importance of focus; no blurry photos please! -- Ed.) The winning images will appear in the September/October issue.

Now, with all those chances to see your name in print and receive a prize, what are you waiting for? The first deadline is tomorrow!

Wordless Wednesday

Cape May, N.J.
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Wordless Wednesday

between San Diego, Calif., and Islas Coronados, Mexico

5 tips for bird photography

Interested in taking bird photos during winter? Cornell Lab of Ornithology created a 4-minute video with photographer Marie (MAR-ee) Read.

Read offers many details, and the main tips include:
1. Plan ahead.
2. Go for the action shot.
3. Use a high shutter speed.
4. Set the exposure manually.
5. Know your subjects.

At the video's end, Read says "patience" isn't the right word for bird photography. She describes her photographic efforts as tenacious and stubborn. Do you feel the same way about bird photography?

American photographers win in international contest

Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition 2009 revealed its winners in London yesterday, and three American photographers earned honors in the 46th annual contest. This year's competition drew more than 43,000 entries.

Rob Palmer from Colorado won the Behaviour: Birds category with an image of a juvenile Bald Eagle chasing a Red-winged Blackbird.

In January 2009, something strange happened at a cattle feedlot in Colorado. Rob noticed a group of bald eagles sittings in a large tree nearby. Usually, bald eagles hunt near water and eat fish, but they are also opportunists. These ones had gathered to feed on starlings and red-winged blackbirds and would launch themselves out of the trees and chase the small birds up into the sky. In this case, the eagle (a juvenile) was successful, but often the small birds would out-fly their attackers. Strangely, some of the birds would suddenly fly up in an erratic way, making themselves easy targets for their prey. Rob suspects that the cattle feed may have been treated with an avicide (bird poison) that affected the birds’ nervous systems. After two weeks, the odd behaviour of the small birds stopped and within days, the bald eagles left.

Thomas Haney from Texas won the One Earth Award, while Kevin Schafer from Washington earned top honors in the Behaviour: Mammals category. The images will appear at London's Natural History Museum until April 2010 in an exhibition that showcases all winning photos plus runners-up and commended images. The competition is organized by London’s Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine.

Wandering Eye showcases your photos!

Want to show off your top-quality bird photos to WildBird's 80,000-plus subscribers? We've got the department for you: Wandering Eye.

Submit a 300dpi JPG with a 4x5-inch print size and a detailed caption to wildbird@bowtieinc.com. The e-mail's subject line should read Wandering Eye. Also provide your full name and mailing address so we can send a complimentary copy of the magazine and a commemorative certificate if your photo appears in a future issue.

Tips:
* Ensure that you send a high-resolution image: 300dpi.
* Double-check that the file's print size is 4x5 inches or larger.
* Understand that 72dpi files cannot be printed in the magazine.
* Scrutinize the image for tack-sharp focus, clean background and good action.

--> Please adhere to the requested method of delivery: e-mail. If you try to submit a photo via Snapfish, YouSendIt, CD or some means other than e-mail, you're operating outside our streamlined system, and you risk disqualification.

If your bird photo appears in WildBird, it also might join the Wandering Eye photo album on WildBird's Facebook page.

Above: Myrna Erler-Bradshaw's photo of Eastern Bluebirds was published in the September/October 2009 issue.

Award-winning bird photog's exhibit in Corpus Christi

Until May 29, birders can enjoy "The Birds of Corpus Christi" in the Kucera Gallery at The Art Center of Corpus Christi. Juan E. Bahamon showcases the beauty of birds along Texas' Gulf Coast, such as these Roseate Spoonbills.


The art center's address: 100 Shoreline Boulevard.

Bahamon won the grand prize in WildBird's 2004 photo contest with an image of a Bald Eagle in flight near Homer, Alaska. He also won second place in the backyard category of the 2005 photo contest for an image of a female Purple Martin bringing a plump dragonfly to her chicks.

Reminder: The deadline for the 2009 photo contest is this Friday, May 15.