Origins

We were already photography nuts. We liked to spend our weekends exploring neighboring towns, taking photos, finding new places. We bought a cool new camera one summer, a Canon 5D Mark II, and spent the rest of the summer learning to use it. We bought a new lens – a bigger one – and went off in search of things to photograph with it.

We thought we would really put the new lens to the test by taking it to George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary and photographing some birds. We weren't really "bird people" at that point, we just wanted to test our skills with some moving subjects.

We spent an afternoon wandering the paths, snapping blurry photos of anything that moved. However, some photos were pretty good.

Cedar Waxwing - George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary

We are naturally curious people, so when we got home and wanted to identify our photos, we bought a bird ID book and got started. We were hooked! I have never looked at another bird the same way. It makes me wonder — how did I see birds before this?

We bought some bird feeders and set them up in the perfect spot with prime viewing from our comfortable kitchen. We get a front row seat during breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Since then, we have accrued 104 species to our Life List. I don't think we'll be stopping anytime soon!