This is where it all began, all of my nature photography stemmed from my original bird obsession. As I would walk around looking for birds I would photograph everything around me, in addition to birds. However, since this is where it started, I believe I have more species of birds photographed than anything else. The catalog I uploaded is really only a partial catalog, I have a much wider variety than what is shown there, though the best quality images are included. I also often have multiple shots/angles/poses of different birds. So if you don't see exactly what you're looking for in my catalog, contact me and I'll tell you whether I have it or not. Thanks again to everyone who has visited my site! Sincerely, Will
This was taken during the six glorious hours that I spent in Africa before I broke my ankle while birding, as such, it has a special place in my heart. This is a member of the old-world flycatchers, Family Monarchidae.
This is a Gruiiforme that is extremely common throughout North America, and has very close relatives worldwide. This belongs to the Family Rallidae.
I believe this is one of the first digital photos I ever took, when I first go my Nikon CoolPix 5700 (great beginner's camera if you can find it). I believe this individual is a male, though it's a little hard to tell with basic plumage. This songbird belongs to the Family Fringilidae.
This is a photo of the first Three-toed Woodpecker ever seen in Kansas! It was discovered by two of my friends, Matt Gearheart and Aaron Mitchell, unfortunately I wasn't on the scene at the moment, but I still got to watch it for an hour or so. It was so cool!
This diminutive Murrelet had a history of hanging out around the Monterey Bay harbor, and was easy to find before we started our pelagic trip. Murrelets like this belong to Family Alcidae.
Not the best quality photo, but it adequately captures this domestic scene. They weren't very creative when it came to naming this bird, it's in the Family Anhingidae.
If you take several hundred photos, you're bound to get one that's in focus. I finally got a perfectly focused image of an Anna's Hummingbird, an immature male to be more precise. Doesn't really show the colors as well as it would if the light had caught it, but I'm happy.
Family Trochilaridae
I traded perfect focus for color in this photo, but what amazing color it is. This is an adult male hummer.
Family Trochilaridae
Not too many members of this genus, and only this one, the Black Skimmer, occurs in North America. It uses its extended lower bill as a scoop as it skims just over the water's surface.
Family Charadridae
Now that's what I call a nose! The morphological analogs to the Toucans of the New World which are related to Woodpeckers, these Hornbills are in the order Coraciiformes along with Kingfishers and allies.
Family Bucerotidae
Though it looks like your standard grouse, these birds are actually in their own order; Pteroclidiformes. Amazingly well camouflaged, we didn't see this male-female duo until we were right next to them.
Family Pteroclididae
The only member of this genus that shows up in North America (and only rarely) is the Northern Lapwing. This is a tropical relative of it, it even resembles it morphologically with its crest.
Family Charadridae
Found all over the state, these are far less shy than their cousins the Northern Bobwhite.
As there exist approximately 16 recognized subspecies of Clapper Rail, several of which occur in California, I don't know which one this is, maybe Yuma, though that's just a guess. Usually rails are extremely shy, I was taken to a place in Oakland where they were quite common and I was lucky enough to get this photo.
Family Rallidae
I snapped this photo next to a Murre colony that must have had upwards of 45000 individuals nesting!
Family Alcidae
During the summer this birds can often be found on fenceposts and powerlines throughout rural Kansas.
Family Caprimulgidae
This is from the craziest birding trip I've ever been on; willingly going to rural Minnesota in February to look for owls and finches. While we didn't find a single owl, the finches were spectacular, and chief among them were the Common Redpolls.
Family Fringilidae
I believe this is the male. Only saw two of these the entire trip, both at the same place and time, definitely a mating pair.
This is the female of the species, one of the few instances when the female is more colorful than the male
It took a couple of special trips out to Lake Okeechobee to find these birds, but we managed to finally track down one on the surrounding farmlands. This is kind of a disjunct population, completely set off from the southwestern and southern Texas populations
I can't really liken a Francolin to anything in North America, they're kind of a cross between a quail and a grouse, but much prettier.
There are actually three individuals in this photo, though I didn't see them until I looked at the pic.
This is the less common dark morph of the Ferruginous Hawk. These hawks are easily distinguishable by their large yellow gape.
Family Accipiteridae
This is as high-res as this bird gets, I had to shoot it from a very long distance away. The African kingfishers were spectacular.
Family Alcedinidae
The largest gull common in North America, this immature bird dwarfs the already large Royal Terns.
Couldn't have asked for a better model. This guy spent about a half an hour preening in one place, allowing for a great photo shoot.
Family Ardeidae
This is probably the owl most familiar to North Americans. It's large, its powerful and has distinctive ear-tufts. More often heard than seen, they are almost noiseless when they fly, making location by call the best means of locating them.
This is the white color morph of the Great Blue Heron that haunts of mangrove flats in the Florida Keys. Best distinguished by bill color and the skin around its eye, as well as its size. They are a special treat to find.
This is an often overlooked species, due to its small size and secretive nature. However, on occasion, they come out into the open for photo-ops such as this.
Family Ardeidae
These beautiful cranes were fairly common on the Masai Mara. This individual is sitting on a nest.
Usually found in fast moving streams, these colorful ducks often wander down to the coast, as did this male-female pair.
These are the largest sparrows in North America, and, in my opinion, one of the prettiest. I don't know where I took this, though Kansas is probably a safe bet.
These are actually more closely related to Cranes than to grouse. We saw several species on our safari. Kori Bustards were my personal favorite, but these were really cool too. I also have a photo of this bird displaying.
Family Otididae
This is the same individual displaying for a female. Quite a beautiful bird!
This individual showed up way out of range in Santa Rosa, CA in a local park. This is still one of my favorite birds.
With only a single record of a Hoopoe in North America, I had given up hope of seeing one, so I was extremely happy to see this guy. They are so cool looking, completely different from any other bird I've seen.
This is an old old photo. This was taken in the visitor's center parking lot at Quivera NWR in Stafford County, Kansas. The mottling pattern blends in perfectly with the gravel parking lot.
Almost identical to the inland Franklin's Gull, these are usually found along the coast. This one is in full breeding plumage.
The purplish sheen to the head feathers and the size of the nail on the bill are the best ways to distinguish between a Greater and Lesser Scaup, at least when they're not flying. This individual is of the Lesser ilk.
The rollers are another weird group that are related to the Kingfishers. We saw quite a few species, but the Lilac-breasted Rollers were by far the most common.
I was quite surprised to see this little sparrow come to my bird feeder at my house. This probably remains my best yard bird.
Family Emberizidae
I also have a photo of this bird with a freshly killed mouse!
There are no representatives of this genus in North America, so it was a treat to see this one.
This is probably my all-time favorite photo and one of my all-time favorite birds. This tiny kingfisher is no large than my closed fist, but sparkles like a jewel even out of sunlight. This little male had just caught a tadpole and was probably taking it to the nest it had that was really close to us.
Unfortunately this is the only decent photo of a dove that I have, the others are too grainy for me to bother uploading.
Sadly, this Gannet probably didn't survive. When I took this photo, there was a die-off of Gannets, with hundreds of them coming close to shore, many actually sitting on the sand like this one was. It was thought that a disease hit the nesting colony and thats what caused the die-off.
This owl was discovered in a small grove of pine trees near the Kansas-Missouri border. Word got out quickly and I was able to come see it. This owl was shorter than my computer screen! Amazingly tame when found, people can actually pick them up, though this is very much discouraged.
Usually my bird photos aren't meant to be artistic, but this one is an exception. Because of their docile nature, I was able to get extremely close to this Saw-whet Owl and snap a close up of its face and eye.
