Visit Pickering Creek Audubon Center between October 6 and October 27 to walk among the winning bird photographs from the 2016 Audubon Photography Awards and learn more about local birdlife. The winning photos will be on view at the Center’s waterfront Monday through Friday from 9-5 and each Sunday in October from 11-3, including at the Center’s annual Harvest Hoedown on October 9. “We are honored to be selected again this year to show these amazing images of birds to our community,” said Pickering Creek Director Mark Scallion.
Selected from more than 7,000 entries—submitted from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Canada—the winning photos were published in the May-June 2016 issue of Audubon magazine. A panel of five judges graded the images based on technical quality, originality, and artistic merit.
Contest judges included Kenn Kaufmann, bird guide author and Audubon field editor; Melissa Groo, Professional Photographer and 2015 Grand Prize winner; Steve Freligh, Co-publisher of Nature’s Best Photography; Kevin Fisher, Audubon creative director; and Sabine Meyer, Audubon photography director. The categories were “Grand Prize,” “Professional,” “Amateur,” “Fine Art,” and “Youth” (ages 13-17). The winning photographs are published in “Audubon” magazine, “Nature’s Best Photography” magazine, and will be displayed in the 2016 Nature’s Best Photography Exhibition at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
This year’s grand prize winner Bonnie Block said this of her image of a Bald Eagle and Great Blue Heron, “Seabeck is a small town on the edge of the Hood Canal, in western Washington. In early summer Great Blue Herons and Bald Eagles converge here to feast on fish that get trapped in the exposed oysterbeds at low tide. While both species catch their own fish, the eagles are especially fond of harassing the herons for their catch. They charge at the herons, which at times release their prey with a loud squawk, dropping the fish back into the water. Though they’re not always successful, the eagles seem to take pleasure in trying to steal a meal.” This year’s show will include more and larger images than the previous year’s fantastic show.
In addition to the photo exhibit, the Center has three other events in October, the annual Harvest Hoedown on Sunday October 9, featuring unique music on two stages, craftspeople, nature walks, wildlife exhibits, hay wagon rides, boat rides and entertaining kids and adult activities as well as food. The Center is also offering Tales & Trails for Tots on October 20, an opportunity to explore the outdoors with your young one and help them form a lifelong bond with nature, as well as a Sunset Paddle on October 25. Information on all the Center’s programs is available at www.pickeringcreek.org.
The National Audubon Society saves birds and their habitats throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon’s state programs, nature centers, chapters, and partners have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire, and unite diverse communities in conservation action. Since 1905 Audubon’s vision has been a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Audubon is a nonprofit conservation organization. Learn more at www.audubon.org and @audubonsociety.
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