FEATURED PHOTOS OF THE MONTH #2 (June 2003) |
In June I traveled a lot through Eastern Canada with my wife and my brother-in-law with his wife.
It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun. We visited three Canada's national parks - Forillon
NP, Prince Edward Island NP, and Fundy NP and stopped at several provincial parks.
I was mainly looking forward to Bonaventure Island. Bonaventure Island is renowned for its Northern
Gannet colony. In 1994, over 32,000 breeding pairs were observed making it the largest colony in
North America. In addition to Northern Gannets, equally impressive numbers of Black-legged
Kittiwakes and Common Murres also nest on the cliffs. In 1989, over 23,000 pairs of Black-legged
Kittiwakes were recorded, and almost 28,000 pairs of Common Murre were recorded. Other seabirds
nesting on the island include Double-crested Cormorant, Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull,
Black Guillemot, Razorbill, Atlantic Puffin, and Leach's Storm-Petrel.
The first picture I have chosen for this months column is picture of flying Northern Gannet from
Bonaventure Island. I was amazed how well my 10D performed in capturing flying birds. I made
hundreds of images that day and many of them are keepers. I never could afford to do flight shots
with film - it was too expensive and it was often difficult to determine exposure, especially for
white birds and if light conditions varied. With digital it was a breeze. Even though I have made
many pictures of birds showing all of the wings, I have chosen this one showing rather detail of
the bird's face and its beautiful blue eye.
Northern Gannet (Sula bassana)
June 12, 2003; Bonaventure Island, Percé, Quebec
The second photo is again a flight shot. At Perce Rock - which lays oposite to Bonaventure
Island - I had a great oportunity to photograph flying Gulls. This photo was taken in late
afternoon and the light was amazing. On this photo I like particularly wing positions and the
red eye ring.
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
June 12, 2003; Percé, Quebec
The third photo is a photo of a young Red Fox. We found a family of mom with 3 youngs foraging
around the access road to Prince Edward Island National Parc. They were very tame and it was a
great opportunity for me. I made many shots of both Fox mom and youngs. I like this one because
of the expression in the face.
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