Birds and Photography

I really admire people who birdwatch. Birdwatchers. Birders. They not only have the patience to watch and listen for birds, but they also have the knowledge to identify birds in their various plumages for each breed or season - male, female, juvenile, breeding and so on and even to identify species by their call alone. Such expertise!

Recently I read a Canadian memoir by Lynn Thomson, of the Toronto-based Ben McNally bookstore family, about her young son Yeats, who is an enthusiastic birder. 

Yeats is the kind of teenager who is, perhaps, somewhat different from his peers in that he is quiet, thoughtful and reflective, appreciates and likes writing poetry and needs alone time. He has always loved wildlife, especially birds and with his encyclopaedic memory, he has no difficulty id-ing them. Like most birders, he keeps a journal/list. 

Mother and son travelled together to neighbourhood venues, like the urban Toronto Riverdale Farm and southern Ontario Wye Marsh as well as to farther-flung places - Pelee Island, Vancouver Island and even the Galapagos, which was possibly an adventure too many - let's just say you should read this book because I don't want to give any spoilers!

I found the memoir particularly enjoyable due to a few coincidences which stem from the Thomson/McNally family spending time at their Muskoka island cottage within eyesight of ours, though I had no knowledge of this prior to finding this book. It's a small world!

While I was thinking about extraordinary teens who love birds, I came across a reference to Liron Gertsman, now 19, who lives in British Columbia. His focus is slanted toward photographing birds and other wildlife and he has many travel miles under his belt already. His most recent claim to fame is sweeping the youth categories of the National Audubon Society's 9th annual Photography Awards, 2018.

Liron has an Instagram account with beautiful photos and a very interesting website: Liron Gertsman Photography

More about the Audubon Awards in a future post.