21. Jeff Nadler, Burnt Hills, New York

 22 (A). Pam Tesler Howitt, Rhode Island

 Look who landed directly outside my office window yesterday, and hung out for 3+ hours! This is a "juvenile" Red-tailed Hawk--probably about a year old. Just hanging out in the sunny spot on a cold day. One of my office mates took the photos. He literally sat there and watched me work for 3 hours (which was sort of freaking me out for a bit--he was one arms length away from me!) Of course the window was closed! If you look closely, you will notice 'red' under the chin--yes, the hawk had just finished lunch and this is probably pigeon blood. (I'm not making this up!)

22(B). Joyce Haynes, Pineville, Missouri

This artwork represents birds in our native culture and consists of
nine birds found in Missouri, the state where I live. I am a Missouri Master Naturalist and I put in hundreds of volunteer hours a year for the Wildcat Glades Audubon and Conservation Center in Joplin, MO. It is the ONLY Audubon that shares it's offices with a government funded entity ( The Missouri Conservation). Birding is a big part of the center, and I often get to lead birding hikes in the area. I have loved birds all my life and always incorporate them in my art. This piece will be used to help promote the Audubon Center's Birdfest this March, and I am very proud of it.

 23. Emily McGonigle, Evanston, Illinois, youth entry

2)     Translucent Barn Swallow. The lines of the extended wing of the Barn Swallow show how beautiful nature can be. The proportions cannot be bettered. I am sure that if they were examined they would illustrate the golden section. This was taken near sunset in New Buffalo harbor, Michigan.

3)       Blue Heron in Flight. Seeing this bird fly by, just beneath me was all that I needed. The colors on its wings were just great. It is not often that you see such a large bird from above and have the opportunity to photograph it. This was taken from the lock at Starved Rock State Park in Illinois.

4)       Male Wood Duck, in the swim. The green water with the magnificent colors of the male wood duck along with its reflection, disrupted only slightly by its wake made it look like it was posing for the camera. This was taken in the heart of downtown, in Chicago, Illinois.

24. Henri Bryan, Blue Mountain, Arkansas

This female cardinal caught my eye with its vibrant colors in the sunlight.  I love watching all of the different kinds of birds that I see on my back porch rail.  This particular bird stopped and posed several different angles for me.  My children and I have learned a great deal from watching and photographing these birds.  I submitted this photo in the contest because I wanted to share the beauty of one of the birds that comes to my porch every day. 

25. David Rader,  Northeast, Maryland

I am submitting my photos to your contest to share them with other people. I enjoy nature photography, and find birds a challenge to get a good picture of.

26. Kris Nelson, Cloquet, Minnesota

I am entering your contest because the mini mural I painted on my
chair is based around a chicken. I am a retired art teacher that
traveled to China last year. I took hundreds of photos there. Several
of them were of the chickens I would see in the markets. The Chinese
people told me that the chicken is a very special bird to them because
their country forms the shape of a chicken. That is why I placed a
chicken on the railing of my chair entitled, "Not Made in China".

27. Joshua Herold, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, (youth entry)

 
The reason I chose this picture is because these are the baby birds as they grow up fast.  Their wings are beautifully colored!

The reason I chose this picture is because I thought their talking was neat sounding and they looked cute with their mouths open.  We watched them grow up from an egg on.  It was really neat.

 28. Kathy Silk, Queensland, Australia

I think the art in this picture is the fact that the Quail is so small and sitting on a school book.

29.  Peter J. van der Linden, Spirit Lake, Iowa

I work at Iowa Lakeside Lab, a satellite campus of Iowa' three state universities, where classes are offered every summer.  Winter is a quiet time of year, with few human visitors. To keep me company, I feed the birds on a stone ledge outside my window.  Usually my avian guests are chickadees and nuthatches. On one recent day, however, I had some unexpected visitors.

30. Megan Karlen, Jackson Heights, New York

I am in the process of creating a folio of monoprints all based on
personal stories of birds in people's memories. This is an on-going
project in which I ask people to describe the memory of a bird that you
have and send the description to me. A bird you remember having seen or a bird you just like. But please don't go outside and look at the real thing
or look at a picture in a book. I'd like the description from your memory.
There is no right or wrong here and not many words are necessary, I'll
just need to know: color, significant markings, shape, legs, if it was a
person what type of person would it be? and finally, you can name the
bird.

I receive responses from everyone I ask and then I create a monoprint from
their description.This is one that I am submitting. The participant wrote:

Oh, I'd love to, because I actually have a favorite bird. You know I eat
breakfast in my back yard every morning. There's usually dew still on the
grass, and the morning sun is shining on the guest house. It's before Don
gets up and it's very peaceful. Just me and my cats. And for the last
several months a little songbird. He's not a beautiful bird, he's small
and dark grey with a little white on his breast. Black beak and legs.
Very plain and unassuming. But what a song. It's just beautiful and
melodious, not harsh or cawing or screeching at all. And it's so varied!
That little bird easily has 15-20 different noises and rhythms coming out
of him. And it's loud! The whole neighborhood can hear it. The best
part of the picture to me is that he sits on the wires near the ugly
telephone pole towards the back of our property. So you've got this ugly
pole and this tangle of industrial wires, this homely little grey bird,
and he's filling the air with beautiful music. And he's way above me, so
he's looking down on me from his hideous industrial perch, but he's adding so much to the lush quiet charm of my beautiful mornings. Once in awhile he'll come down to a lower wire to get a better look at me, but for the
most part he sits towards the top of the pole singing -- I like to think
just for me.

And here is the monoprint that I created from that participant's
information: