The Beginning

How it all started

I have always loved birds.  As a kid, I enjoyed watching the chickadees flutter about in the frost covered branches during the long cold winter months in Alaska.  I remember my dad keeping a record of the first Robin he saw each spring, which must have contributed to my latent birding affair.  I delighted in hearing the song of a robin after the rain on a summer day, which still brings me a sense of peace and serenity.  Birding is both a challenging and rewarding hobby, and I have thus far, only photographed a small percentage of the birds that can be found in this vast state.  There’s nothing like the thrill of finding and photographing a new bird, and each season brings exciting possibilities and adventures.

I started birding seriously around late June of this 2015, keeping a journal of all the birds I would see. What triggered my latent love of birding? My family's first camping trip of the summer was in our own backyard so to speak, at the Eagle River Campground. The campground was packed and summer was in full swing. It must have been 10 o'clock in the evening or so, and my wife and I and our son went for a short walk. I listened as the most beautiful bird song sang out from the trees around us. It was so ethereal and enchanting that I was determined to find out which one of my feathered friends was responsible for the lovely serenade. That was it, I bought myself a pair of binoculars and a couple of bird books and started getting out every chance I got. I discovered that it was a Swainson's Thrush singing that night, and it remains one of my favorite birds. I was hooked, and decided I was going to see how many species of birds I could record by years end. I would (and still do) take my lunch hour to go birding at a few spots around Anchorage, and during the summer and fall.

About 3 months ago, I decided to purchase a camera. After some searching for a decent all-around camera, I settled on the Canon SX50 HS. This camera is marketed as a point-and-shoot camera, but it is much more than that. It has the ability to set shutter speeds, ISO, F-Stop and more. For me, it was perfect. I had taken some photography courses in art school, but that was so long ago, I would have to learn it all over again. The SX50 is great because while I'm messing around learning all the settings, I can still get out and take good photographs with the auto setting. I will eventually upgrade to a DSLR with some high powered lenses, but for now, the SX50 is working just fine for me.

Birding has definitely become a very involved hobby (and a bit spendy too). I've put out so many feeders around my house I'm sure to attract every bird within a 50 mile radius (one can dream). Already at our house we get; Steller's Jays, Black-capped and Boreal Chickadees, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, Brown Creepers, Magpie, and Red-breasted Nuthatches as regulars around the yard. We had a family of Merlin take up residence in a large pine tree in our yard,  this past summer which kept a lot of the songbirds away. I did see a Yellow Warbler earlier in the fall though, and just last weekend I saw (from a distance) some Pine Grosbeaks flying through the neighborhood.  I'm hoping to attract them to my feeders so I can shoot them. With my camera of course. As of today, with my sighting of Bohemian Waxwings, I'm at 65 species. Not bad for an amateur first year birder. So 2015 has been a good year, but not an altogether BIG year. Cheers.

Learn more about my favorite bird, the Swainson's Thrush here.