Song of the Sparrow
March 18, 2020
Photographs by Vickie Babyak
Discovering nature in my backyard is relaxing for me. I can easily spend a couple hours in my yard or walking around our neighborhood with its turn- of-the-century homes and the Monongahela River flowing at the bottom of the hill. With my camera on my shoulder, I find pleasure in photographing mature trees, flowering plants, comical squirrels and woodchucks, as well as a variety of insects and native birds. I need patience to find something beautiful and capture the moment with a notable image.
Birds are my favorite subject to photograph. With their little antics, they invite me to watch them while giving me a sense of relief from my everyday worries. Birds are considered messengers from the spiritual world. They symbolize peace, transformation, freedom and power. I love the variety of species from their precise feather patterns to their wide range of colors from earth tones to cardinal red.
The most calming sound to me is their sweet chirping to the heavens. It fills me with a consciousness of peace.