NATURESCAPES.NET 2005 BIRDS GALLERY
IMAGE OF THE YEAR

Swift in Flight
Image copyright Mike Danzenbaker

Mike Danzenbaker was raised as a birder from early childhood in New Jersey, when his father instilled in him a deep and abiding love and respect for the natural world. A college friend introduced him to black-and-white photography and the darkroom, and his birding quickly took on a new direction and purpose. After moving to California's Silicon Valley in 1985 to take a day job in software, he began seriously investing nearly all his spare time in bird photography, soon branching out into color and recently digital. He'll photograph any subject which makes itself available, but specializes in rare or seldom-photographed species, and particularly enjoys working on fast-flying birds such as in the photo at hand.

Some of the most important keys to successful photography are knowledge of the intended subject, selection of the appropriate site at the appropriate time of day and year, and a tolerance for sleep deprivation. For this photo, Mike identified the location a few years previously, but the time of day was wrong and he had no opportunity to return until last year. He then got up at 4 AM on 6 different mornings and drove the 2 hours to the site for a sunrise arrival. To take the photos he climbed atop a wall in order to be as even with the flying birds as possible as they swirled and chased each other around their nest sites at breakneck speeds. A couple of hours later the activity would diminish and the light would deteriorate; as is often the case, the best opportunities were fleeting.

Mike is a regular participant on NatureScapes.net and his website is http://www.avesphoto.com.

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