One of my lasting childhood memories was watching the Eyewitness science documentaries produced by the BBC and DK Vision. If you went to school in North America anytime after 1995 and don’t know what I’m talking about, the epic pan flute intro will surely reconnect some dormant neurons. And if you didn’t still listen to the song, it’s amazing. I loved those nature and science documentaries growing up. I recently came to the realization that I’ve recently been privileged to contribute to making this type of content rather than just consuming it. And I think that’s so cool, unlocking a childhood dream you didn’t fully realize you had until it became a reality.
Hummingbird Course
In the fall of 2022, I was able to visit Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology and connect with some of their educational team. In chatting with them, the opportunity to voluntarily collaborate on a new virtual correspondence course they were developing about hummingbirds came about. Ironically, photographing hummingbirds was what originally sparked my interest in studying and getting certified in Ornithology. And photographing and filming hummingbirds is still my special photographic niche. I worked on trying to film some hummingbird behavior for several months.
The Wonderful World of Hummingbirds course was published in July of 2023 and I was shocked to see that my photo, of my favorite hummingbird (Fiery-throated Hummingbird), was chosen as the featured image for the marketing video. Additionally, a few other clips I recorded were used to illustrate hummingbird characteristics like iridescence (below) and behavior like territorial defense.
It was particularly an honor to be listed as a contributor next to names of other wildlife photographers like Glenn Bartley who have inspired me and whom I’ve learned so much from (Glenn wrote a book on the hummingbirds of the world that I highly recommend).