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A Gift Of Spring: Catskill Region Birds
April 2002
The famous “Birds of America” series of 435 hand colored prints in four volumes by John James Audubon were first printed in England 1827–1838. They are still the most admired series of portraits ever created of those exquisite beings that fill our skies. Now that spring is here again we can see many of them in the air, on trees, on flowers, on the ground and we can enjoy the return of some of the most beautiful living beings ever created. And those with eyes sharp enough to find them in the woods and fields of the Catskill Region, and who have fingers agile enough to capture them on film, can enrich our lives with the kind of images we have in this month’s issue of the Catskill Mountain Region Guide.
From an esthetic point of view one has to admire the amazing blue color that enlivens the Bluebird on our cover, and the remarkable composition with the bird perched on such a tender stalk. The photograph of a Nuthatch, who appears to be gathering material for a nest, with the sun at its back is an intimate view that few of us have the privilege of seeing. And one has to be pretty lucky to see a Hummingbird fluttering its wings as it hovers over the newly blossomed flower, its beak reaching out to absorb nourishment. Then we have the two page spread with the Bald Eagle with it’s curved beak and fierce eye—close up on one side, and standing on a branch on the other. The Wood Duck and the Canadian Geese in their watery habitats seem quite content with their lot in life, and that beautiful long-necked Great Blue Heron standing so proudly on the ground and looking off to the distance is like a work of sculpture.
The arrival of these new/old friends is indeed a gift of spring. And these outstanding photographs make us conscious that the wonderful season which brings the new birth of life is here again.
— David Finn
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