Dave Lambeth's photostream  

Welcome to my Gallery of North Dakota Birds. Please note that my photos are organized into sets (e.g., waterfowl) and that the species with a set are arranged in taxonomic order.

I live in a state that has a rich diversity of birds, which is why the first national convention of the American Birding Association was held at Kenmare in 1973. The ABA returned in 1994, holding their convention in Minot. The attraction? Prairie and wetland species. We still have extensive prairies, numerous potholes, and more National Wildlife Refuges than any other state in the Union. North Dakota has numerous places where one can get totally away from the noises of civilization and hear only those of nature.

So how did I become a birder? Growing up on a small farm in Missouri without most of modern-day distractions, I came to enjoy the great out-of-doors. Free time was spent roaming the countryside, looking for interesting critters. I really got hooked on birds after getting my first pair of binoculars and a field guide at the age of 28. My first spouse, Sharon, and our son Greg, both developed an interest in birds at this time and we learned bird identification together. That was in Wisconsin where I was a graduate student. We evolved to become birders as we met others with similar interests during our stays in Michigan and Florida.

Upon moving to North Dakota in 1977, I purchased a Novoflex 400 mm lens and a Minolta SLR camera to document rarities as we began to explore a relatively unbirded state. For over 20 years, this camera system was within arms reach as I birded around the state. I switched to digital photography in 2001 when I began using a Nikon Coolpix 995 for digiscoping. Although I since have used a series of Point and Shoot Cameras, I now use a Canon S95 and a Leica Televid 77 mm scope. I really appreciate the ability to control shutter speeds on the S95.

Of course digiscoping doesn’t work well in many situations, especially when birds are on the move. Besides I missed the feel of SLR photography. So I returned to SLR photography by using a Nikon D100 with a 70 to 300 mm lens. In June 2011, switched to a Canon 7D and a Canon 100-400 mm lens.

The images in this gallery are among the best I have for each species. Some of them are pretty bad! I won't apologize for them, but will keep working to get better ones. All images in the gallery were taken in North Dakota. In time I will add comments for those species that are of particular interest for one reason or another.

Here are some other things you may want to know about my images:

• Within each set, images are arranged in checklist order.
• Images with dates before 2001 are digitized from slides.
• Many of the images have been cropped and otherwise tweaked using Picasa. Most images have been resized for web viewing (about 800 x 600 pixels). As such they will not print very well.

I am happy to share my images with viewers who will use them for educational purposes that promote an interest and appreciation of birds. I would appreciate being cited as the source. Under no circumstances should these images be transferred to other web sites.

Anyone who would like to acquire any of the images in their original resolution should contact me. I will offer the original at a price based partially on the intended use.

I owe much to my birding friends in North Dakota for shared time in the field and getting out the word on the rarities they find. I continue to share an interest in birding and photography with my son Greg, who now lives in Illinois. His images can be viewed at greglambethbirdphotos.smugmug.com/ Sharon always said that if there is reincarnation, she would like to come back as a Red-tailed Hawk. So, of course, seeing one of this species is an instant reminder of her. Finally I wish to acknowledge my spouse, Cec, who often accompanies me in the field and on trips, and who always shares an interest in what is appearing in our back yard.