100 Flying Birds: Photographing the Mechanics of Flight

“Flight is the essence of birdness. I strive to illustrate the beauty and complexity of avian flight.” – Peter Cavanagh 100 Flying Birds: Photographing the Mechanics of Flight offers a vivid and varied glimpse into the world of birds. A white-tailed eagle plummeting through a Japanese sky, a brown pelican striking a silhouette against an Ecuadorian sunset, an Atlantic puffin carrying its fish dinner above the Scottish coast, or a keel-billed toucan gliding through a Costa Rican jungle canopy; readers will marvel at the splendour of birds in flight while learning the techniques to capture these gravity-defying moments from a world-class nature photographer. For each picture, author and photographer Peter Cavanagh shares his most evocative thoughts: the challenges of the shoot, the beauty of the location, and the curiosities of the species. Bird people will enjoy the bird photographs and facts, travelers will gobble up the tales of distant parts, and photographers will absorb the technical details. For instance, readers might be surprised to see that a very slow shutter speed can freeze the motion of hummingbird wings. Peter Cavanagh has collected 100 beautiful photos spanning a wide range of species. The subjects of each of the 11 chapters are: Eagles Hummingbirds Gulls and Terns Small Waterbirds Large Waterbirds Ducks, Geese and Swans Raptors Condors and Corvids Cranes Songbirds AUTHOR: Peter Cavanagh is a wildlife photographer who has been taking pictures since he was a boy in England. Peter’s migration to the photography and study of bird flight evolved from his study of flight aerodynamics for aircraft pilot qualifications; his professional training in anatomy, biomechanics, and high-speed photography; and his love of nature and the outdoors. Peter’s images have been included in the Audubon Society’s Top 100 Bird Photographs of the Year, he is a member of the North American Nature Photographers Association, and he has guest-curated the exhibit “How Birds Fly” at the Seattle Museum of Flight. Peter lives in the San Juan Islands of Washington State, USA with his wife, artist Ann Vandervelde. 120 colour photographs