My dabbling in Avian Anatomy continued with an urge to reach out to someone who just might have some knowledge in the field. A few years ago, I friended someone on Facebook after another friend had posted one of his photos which I greatly admired. Since then, I have enjoyed a stream of spectacular shots posted by Paul Babb - mainly of birds, but other nature scenes as well. In fact, one of his photos is currently serving as my computer background screen.
I wrote to Paul and asked if, given his obvious interest in birds, he had any knowledge of bird anatomy - whether it might inform his work. I am quoting his response below:
"Hi Wendy, interesting question. I had to think about it a bit to come up with an answer. When I was in college in the mid '70's I was a biology major. Probably most of my focus was on the human body, but I did do some other biology stuff. I took a class that I totally enjoyed on birds, a field class that mostly worked on identification. A bit later I got a chance to get pretty much in on the ground floor of a group of people, led by a local Vet that was concerned with the huge decline in populations of the Peregrine Falcon. This group wanted to figure out a way to captive breed Peregrines to try and rebuild the population. We started off trying to breed another falcon, the Sparrow Hawk (kestrel) since there were lots of those. DDT had pretty much wiped out the peregrine. We started out slow but eventually learned what the Kestrel needed to reproduce and then the work turned to Peregrines. About that time I finished college and moved on to other things but the Santa Cruz Predatory Research group kept going and became really successful and eventually bred and released into the wild many, many Peregrines. They also did some work with eagles and other predatory birds. I guess from these experiences is where I got the passion to watch birds, especially predatory birds. That's also why I got so excited lately when I started to actually find Peregrines in the wild, something that would not have happened in the 70's. I can't help but think that in a tiny way I helped with the return of this bird. The Santa Cruz Predatory Research Group still exists today. Then of course, by watching falcons I am also noticing all the other birds and found it really fun to get the best pictures I can of all of them. I have not really spent much time on anatomy, but more focused on behavior. I like to see how they hunt, how they forage for food, their breeding behaviors etc. So, I guess the answer to your question about avian anatomy being a factor, not really... my passion is more about getting out there and watching them do their daily things and especially predatory birds are the ones that get me really excited! Hope this helps."
Oh, it helps, Paul. I have now spent the past few days hanging around on Peregrine Falcon sites. As someone living not too far from Rochester, NY, I have been particularly enthralled with the chance to watch a live feed video of a falcon's nest at RFalconCam. Their first two eggs of the season JUST HATCHED yesterday! If I hadn't been drawn into dabbling in Peregrine's, I would never have known about the Peregrine Project in Rochester, and would have completely missed this beautiful event. As it turns out, since 1998, 49 young falcons have fledged from Rochester nests. Whoop! Whoop!
And so I dabble on... Be sure to click over and check out Paul Babb's captivating photos (including the 2 on this page) at: https://plus.google.com/u/0/100993593817697324416/posts
I wrote to Paul and asked if, given his obvious interest in birds, he had any knowledge of bird anatomy - whether it might inform his work. I am quoting his response below:
"Hi Wendy, interesting question. I had to think about it a bit to come up with an answer. When I was in college in the mid '70's I was a biology major. Probably most of my focus was on the human body, but I did do some other biology stuff. I took a class that I totally enjoyed on birds, a field class that mostly worked on identification. A bit later I got a chance to get pretty much in on the ground floor of a group of people, led by a local Vet that was concerned with the huge decline in populations of the Peregrine Falcon. This group wanted to figure out a way to captive breed Peregrines to try and rebuild the population. We started off trying to breed another falcon, the Sparrow Hawk (kestrel) since there were lots of those. DDT had pretty much wiped out the peregrine. We started out slow but eventually learned what the Kestrel needed to reproduce and then the work turned to Peregrines. About that time I finished college and moved on to other things but the Santa Cruz Predatory Research group kept going and became really successful and eventually bred and released into the wild many, many Peregrines. They also did some work with eagles and other predatory birds. I guess from these experiences is where I got the passion to watch birds, especially predatory birds. That's also why I got so excited lately when I started to actually find Peregrines in the wild, something that would not have happened in the 70's. I can't help but think that in a tiny way I helped with the return of this bird. The Santa Cruz Predatory Research Group still exists today. Then of course, by watching falcons I am also noticing all the other birds and found it really fun to get the best pictures I can of all of them. I have not really spent much time on anatomy, but more focused on behavior. I like to see how they hunt, how they forage for food, their breeding behaviors etc. So, I guess the answer to your question about avian anatomy being a factor, not really... my passion is more about getting out there and watching them do their daily things and especially predatory birds are the ones that get me really excited! Hope this helps."
Oh, it helps, Paul. I have now spent the past few days hanging around on Peregrine Falcon sites. As someone living not too far from Rochester, NY, I have been particularly enthralled with the chance to watch a live feed video of a falcon's nest at RFalconCam. Their first two eggs of the season JUST HATCHED yesterday! If I hadn't been drawn into dabbling in Peregrine's, I would never have known about the Peregrine Project in Rochester, and would have completely missed this beautiful event. As it turns out, since 1998, 49 young falcons have fledged from Rochester nests. Whoop! Whoop!
And so I dabble on... Be sure to click over and check out Paul Babb's captivating photos (including the 2 on this page) at: https://plus.google.com/u/0/100993593817697324416/posts