Birder wins award

By Linda Bell
Correspondent

In a serendipitous moment of multitasking, Nancy Bell landed her photo of a violet-bellied hummingbird in the January edition of National Geographic Magazine, won a professional grade EOS Canon digital camera and a place at a National Geographic photo workshop in Santa Fe, N.M.

"Last September just two days before leaving on a trip to Australia," Bell said, "I was waiting for one of my large photo files of birds to load on my computer and as it was taking so long I leafed though a recent issue of National Geographic and noticed an ad in the magazine for a 'Focus on Nature' photo contest." She knew exactly what to do next.

National Geographic and Canon co-sponsored the contest. In a call to let Bell know she had won the grand prize, the Canon representative told her there were more than 900 entries but described Bell's photo as winning "hands down."

The hummingbird photo, taken in Ecuador, is so detailed it catches the rain and small water droplets on the bird's beak and iridescent feathers, Bell said.

Although an avid birder for over three decades, Bell only started to photograph them when she discovered from a friend the ease of digital photography with its sure-fire auto-focus features and an ability to take many photos without film and processing costs.

Bell bought an entry-level Canon SLR camera and tried it out for the first time at a Denver reservoir described on the COBirds web site as a good photo opportunity because of the many merganser ducks lingering there. "I've been hooked ever since," she said.

"As I quietly watch the birds, I'm deeply impressed by their 'pluck' and how they gamely go about the business of living," Bell said. "The hummingbirds truly amaze me. They are so very small and still so successful at surviving."

She said she's learned so much more about how adaptable and resilient birds are from quietly observing them as a photographer. Readers can view more of Bell's photos on her web site at www.jymis.com/~bellbird.

For information on the COBirds list, go to the home page of the Colorado Field Ornithologists at www.cfo-link.org and click on "birding" to find out how to join the list.