Alex Nelson

Perched above the nest was an adult great horned owl, lazily gazing from a tree top, bare save for tufts of Spanish moss. #birds

Thanks, Glen. Always cool to find an owl nest.

But when the AI help is being used to replace the iterative processes that result in actual creation, my sympathy erodes because at a certain point you are robbing yourself of the experience of making something. And lying to the audience, because they react to authentic experience.

And I have a certain amount of sympathy for people who use AI (or stuff marketed as AI that isn't) to help themselves out for certain labor-intensive tasks, because it is an equalizer in a field where how much money you have to spend on equipment and how much free time you have matters a ton.

That includes the incremental work needed to learn the species, the habitat, your gear, the fundamentals of photography, and editing/processing. Even when my images are not the result of a ton of planning, they are the result of a ton of hard work, and that's what makes me proud of my images.

I don't particularly care which image is 'better.' But, especially in a field like wildlife photography where almost any image you could want to capture has already been captured, what a lot of people don't understand is that the act of making the image is what's special to the creator and audience.

Thanks, Matthew. I was getting jealous of your images so I decided to check some of the preferred nesting spots near me.

Came across a great horned owlet this evening, sitting behind some twigs and Spanish moss amidst the resurrection ferns. The bird looked to be about a week to ten days old. A tight crop from an image taken at 800mm. #birds

A male cardinal standing in front of some palm fronds while perched atop a tree stump. #birds

Thanks, Glen!

Thanks, Marina!

Thank you!

A male downy woodpecker perched on a twig against a dark background. #birds

A female common yellowthroat in a tangle of dried out vegetation in the middle of the wetlands. #birds

A male common yellowthroat perched on a dry reed in the middle of the marsh. #birds

Thank you!

Thanks!

Thank you, Mark. It was the result of a lot of patience in a really uncomfortable environment, so I'm happy it was worth it.

Thank you, Janet! I was thrilled to find them snuggled up like that.

Thanks, Glen.

Thank you, Lori!

Thanks, Rosemarie!

I might phrase it a little differently on my resume.

These Precious Photos of Baby Birds Are Just What You Need Our favorite chick pics from the 2025 Audubon Photo Awards will improve anyone's day.

This is neat. The National Audubon Society used my contest entry from last year of a great horned owl and its owlet resting amidst a sea of Spanish moss in their annual gallery of baby bird photos:

www.audubon.org/magazine/the...

A closeup of a sora's face. #birds

Thanks, Glen!

I'm located in Florida. We have them year-round.

A male red-winged blackbird clinging to a dry reed in some misty rain yesterday morning. #birds

Before tossing it down its hatch, this anhinga really wanted to show off the bluegill it had caught. The bird had spent several minutes beating the fish against the rocks along the shoreline in an attempt to dislodge the fish from its beak after spearing it just below the eye. #birds

Thanks, Lori. As happy as you might be, I promise I'm quite a bit happier.