Yea…my juvenile Broad Winged Hawk picture was a finalist in this years Georgian Bay Land Trust (GBLT) Fundraising Poster. Over 75+ photographs and only 25 made it in. You can see my bird in the number 15 position if you count L to R. In other words, third row on the right hand side.

This is a fundraising effort on behalf of the GBLT to raise money to help with preserving the Georgian Bay area and its flora and fauna.

This was by far the hardest assignment yet. Taking pictures of birds is …well…for the birds. I found it not necessary to have the best photo equipment but it would have been a big advantage to have a long, fast lens as the majority of my shots were taken in a boat as that was the only access to many of these birds. Taking them from land couldn’t put me in close enough and that was with my big lens. For the most part I was shooting with my Nikon f4-5.6, 80-400mm lens. Although I like the lens I really felt its shortcomings on cloudy days and when the light was fading. Read…when it was feeding time for the birds.

However, I was able to capture a few pictures of various birds: Loons, common song tail birds, Great Blue Herons, various Gulls, Sandpipers, Terns and a few others to which I have no clue what they are. This is where my neighbours came in…they are active orthinologists and helped me quite a bit in identifying them.

This assignment did teach me a lot about birds. Specifically about their behaviour. I also learned when and where the best place to find them were. I spent a lot of time in the boat early morning or evening scouting them out. A few times I even had Luc with me…but those trips usually didn’t last too long as he would soon start to move too much in the boat and want to hang off the side of my Whaler. Not good considering he’s not even two yet.

But, lady luck was on my side the day I found this hawk. My husband, two children and myself had just gotten into our car at the marina when I spotted him. He swooped in gracefully and plunked himself on a tree branch not far from us. I had one lens (a 105mm) and I took as many pictures as I could before he flew away. I must say it was much easier taking a picture on land than from inside a boat.

If you use Georgian Bay for recreation or for your livelihood please consider purchasing this poster – it is after all for a good cause. The following is an excerpt copied from the GBLT website:

Funds generated from the sales of our posters go towards supporting the activities and projects of the GBLT.  With your support, we can preserve and protect the unique flora, fauna and habitat of Georgian Bay that we all love. 

Call the office at 416-440-1519 x 3 to order your poster today.  Posters can be mailed to you or arranged to be picked up at the office. 

Rolled poster: $ 20
Plaqued poster: $ 50