My Images for NANPA 2007

      At the annual “Summit” of the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) in January 2007, my images appeared in two juried events. 

      The first was the “Members’ Slide Show” with 20 presenters, each showing ten images.  I titled my brief show  “A Week in the Life of a Loon Chick”--the first ten images below. I captured them during a magical week in  July 2005, on Barker Pond near Hiram, ME, when I kayaked out each morning to photograph a pair of adult Common Loons and their chick.

      For the second event, “Naturally Funny”, the organizers chose the twelve most humorous nature photos among the many submitted.  Two of the twelve were mine--the last two images below.  Large prints were displayed in advance, and conference attendees competed to name the most amusing captions for each image. You'll find the three winning captions for my two images under the large versions.     

Images by John Van de Graaff

Click on an image for a large version (with captions)

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The chick usually stayed close to one or both of its parents. The chick often showed adult-like behavior, such as this wing flap (which was much quicker than the adult version, however, and very hard to catch with my camera.) Getting on for a ride! The chick spent perhaps 15% to 20% of the time on a parent's back (I was not able to tell whether it was the same parent.), in part presumably to conserve heat . It often stretched or waved its leg--more imitation of its parents. A parent on the way to feed the chick Title for this shot:: "Anxious Parent". For over three minutes the parent attempted to get the chick to swallow this fish, vocalizing repeatedly in encouragement. This was the chick's final attempt; when it dropped the fish, the parent immediately gulped it down. "Ma, I'm geting wet!" One misty morning, the parent eased very low in the water--perhaps encouraging the chick to disembark ... ... but the chick held on, and continued to exercise! A serene family portrait, befitting a gorgeous morning, with the mist mostly gone. At one point the parents left the chick alone and literally disappeared, probably for close to half an hour. The end of my brief Members' Slide Show! Anhinga on a large turtle (at the Blue Heron Wetlands in Titusville, Florida). One could spin all sorts of tales about the relationship between these two! (Anhingas are a tropical bird, closely related to cormorants.) Piping Plover with six legs! Actually, the adult is sheltering, or brooding, two young chicks, which is quite common behavior; I've photographed as many as three being sheltered. The image is from Massachusetts Audubon's Allen's Pond Wildlife Sanctuary in Westport MA.