Female Young Birder Photography Workshop with Nat Geo/Girls Who Click and a Young Birder Trip to Maplewood!

Young Birders attending the Female Nat Geo/Girls Who Click Photo Workshop in Vancouver

This weekend we had a fun Young Birder-filled weekend! On Saturday we met up at Maplewood Flats and had a nice walk around the park. We saw 55 species including a fully leucistic Short-billed Gull, Chipping Sparrow and Evening Grosbeaks. A full list of species can be found HERE and our full report at the BC Young Birders website HERE.

Young Birders at Maplewood Flats - Photo: Melissa Hafting

On Sunday I took part in and co-led a National Geographic and Girls Who Click photo workshop for Female identifying Young Birder/Wildlife photographers for ages 13-18 year olds. I co-led with National Geographic Explorer photographer Gunjan Menon. Gunjan made a famous film on Red Pandas and she discussed her ethical approach to conservation and wildlife photography and taught the girls how to most effectively use their cameras; which was very helpful. The field is mostly male dominated and that is why Gunjan created this workshop for females. The girls focused on one species and told a story on each species by taking photos in different settings while following and respecting the bird's behavior. 

Young Birders with Gunjan during the workshop

At the end of the workshop, each girl presented their story to the other girls attending, using only 7of their photos. This is how we learned how to tell a conservation story and evoke a certain message with our photos. Gunjan is a wildlife conservation photographer and filmmaker, who makes films that impact people and their emotions, to help humans see why we must protect a certain endangered species and their habitat; so who better to learn from! You can read her National Geographic Explorer bio HERE

Female young birders listening to Gunjan Menon from National Geographic - Photo: Melissa Hafting

Young Birders looking at birds on Lost Lagoon - Photo: Melissa Hafting

We learned how to ethically photograph birds and wildlife and I led the young female birders around Lost Lagoon, showing them the various birds. We saw a rare Northern Waterthrush, which was a lifer for all the girls attending.  We also saw an immature Green Heron which was a lifer for many in the group. We got to watch the heron catch and eat a frog as well!  Our goal today was not to see as many species as possible but to focus on photography and tell a story through our images. We still did well on the species count with 43!

Thanks to Gunjan, National Geographic and Girls Who Click for inviting me and for giving the girls such a wonderful and FREE opportunity.

A list of species can be found HERE

You can read the full trip report at the BC Young Birders website HERE

Comments

  1. LizAugust 16, 2024 at 11:27 PM

    Mel I wish I was 15 again just so I could go on your workshops and trips. This looks like so much fun. How cool that you had Gunjan leading to her films are great and she's so passionate like you the youth could not be in better hands!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 17, 2024 at 12:04 AM

    just amazing Mel! kudos

    ReplyDelete
  3. Meg GAugust 19, 2024 at 8:22 AM

    Looks like a fabulous workshop and experience! Also looks like was a beautiful day for it! Love the photos!

    ReplyDelete

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