Cedar Waxwing and Dicksissel - Dawson, North Dakota - June 2017

More photos from my first birding outing in North Dakota. I was using the out of print "Birding North Dakota" by Dan Svingen and Ron Martin as a guide. These photos were taken while following the Dawson Route.  All images were acquired with a Nikon D500 camera and a 500mm f/4 lens with 1.4x teleconverter supported by a bean bag on the open window of my car. 

Larger versions of the horizontally oriented photos can be viewed by clicking on the image.






David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit.