Greetings!

For our last meeting of 2021, on Thursday, December 9—via Zoom—we will have a presentation on one of the most awe-inspiring of birds: owls!  The photographers among us will appreciate the skill and effort that Paul Bannick uses to capture his incredible images and we will all come away having been informed about the lives of these intriguing birds!  Don’t miss this!  Look for the Zoom link in your email a few days prior to the meeting. The Zoom Room will open at 6:45 pm.  Meeting begins at 7 pm.

Jeanne Verhulst
Vice President and Chair of Programs

Owl:  A Year in the Lives of North American Owls presented by Paul Bannick

Join Paul Bannick for a program featuring video, sound, stories from the field and several dozen new images from his award-winning and best-selling bird book: Owl: A Year in the Lives of North American Owls. Paul uses intimate yet dramatic images to follow owls through the course of one year and in their distinct habitats. Audiences will witness the four seasons on territory, as each stage in an owl’s life is chronicled through rare images: courtship, mating, and nesting in spring; fledging and feeding of young in summer; dispersal and gaining independence in fall; and, finally, winter’s migrations and competitions for food. His program shows how owls use the unique resources available to them in each habitat to face those challenges. All 19 species found in Canada and the United States are featured in photos, video and narrative throughout the talk, with a special focus on the Northern Pygmy-Owl, Great Gray Owl, Burrowing Owl, and Snowy Owl. Owl is a stunning follow-up to Bannick’s bestselling title, The Owl and the Woodpecker, giving bird lovers yet another gorgeous photographic tribute, engaging natural history, and a compelling call to preserve the habitats that sustain these most iconic of birds. Nearly ten years of working in some of the most remote parts of the continent, at the darkest hours of the day, tracking owls as they move through their lives has rewarded Paul with striking images that he uses in his book and presentations.

Adult owls often make loud, plaintive noises and wave their wings to get the attention of potential predators and lead them away from the nest or young. Long-eared Owl – © Paul Bannick

Paul Bannick is an award-winning author and wildlife photographer specializing in the natural history of North America with a focus on birds and habitat. Coupling his love of the outdoors with his skill as a photographer, he creates images that foster the intimacy between viewer and subject, inspiring education and conservation.

Paul is both the author and photographer of two best-selling bird books, Owl: A Year in the Lives of North American Owls (Braided River 2016) and The Owl and The Woodpecker, Encounters with North America’s Most Iconic Birds (Mountaineers 2008). Both of Paul’s books were well received. Washington’s State Museum, The Burke, created two traveling exhibits based on his first book, The Owl and the Woodpecker.  His second book, Owl: A Year in the Lives of North American Owls, received Gold Medal in the 2017 Independent Publisher Book Awards “Animals/Pets” category.

Paul’s photography won awards from several prestigious photography contests, including those hosted by Audubon Magazine and the International Conservation Photography Awards.

His work can be found prominently in bird guides from Audubon, Peterson, The Smithsonian, Stokes, The National Wildlife Federation, and in several volumes of the Handbook of the Birds of the World. His work has been featured in a variety of publications from The New York Times, Audubon, Sunset, Nature’s Best Photography Magazine, Birds and Blooms, Pacific Northwest (two cover stories), Seattle Times, Alaska Air Magazine, American Way Magazine, and in many other books, magazines, parks, refuges, and other outlets in North America and Europe. He has appeared on NBC Nightly News, Evening Magazine, King 5 and on dozens of NPR stations and programs, including Travels with Rick Steves and BirdNote.

Paul is an accomplished public speaker and has served as the keynote speaker for dozens of festivals, conventions and fundraisers across the country. His photography has been and continues to be a part of several North American traveling exhibits. A special exhibit at the Chi Mei Museum in Tainan, Taiwan recently featured Paul’s work titled Owls of North America: Spirit of the Lands.

After graduating from the University of Washington, Paul worked successfully for 15 years in the computer software industry beginning as one of the original 75 employees of the Aldus Corporation. He later served as a Director for Adobe Systems, and also worked as a senior manager at Microsoft. Wishing to combine his passion for wilderness conservation with his career, Paul turned his attention to non-profit work and currently serves as the Director of Major Gifts for Conservation Northwest, an organization dedicated to protecting and connecting wild areas and recovering native species from the Pacific Coast to the Canadian Rockies.

Young owls, like these Northern Hawk owls are growing fastest at about 2 weeks of age. At this time they seem to never be satiated and often continue to beg after being fed, putting great pressure on parents. Northern Hawk Owls – © Paul Bannick