Big Dunk, Little Dunk: In the Beginning

Please let me introduce Tom and Jack Dunkerton, who will be contributing to "On the Trail" on a monthly basis. Tom is a professional photographer and Nikon Prostaff member of great repute and his 7 year old Jack is following in his footsteps. Merritt Island NWR is their backyard; Tom's wife and Jack's mum works at the refuge. Here is their inaugral post. All the bird pictures and captions were taken and written by Jack. Enjoy!



Father and Son - look's cold there guys!

I think it’s only fair that at the start of this inaugural entry in addition to introducing ourselves, you get a brief explanation as to how this freight train started rolling.
 

Growing up in Staten Island, New York I was always outside.  Treasure hunting wherever I roamed leaving no stone or log unturned often returning home with a snake or frog.  Fast forward to the mid 80’s when I met the woman who would spark my interest in bird watching and who would eventually become my wife.  Yep, it’s all her fault!

 My passion for birding has certainly increased over the years becoming far more than just a casual recreation so much so that my son Jack got his first mosquito bite at 3 months old hiking around with me in the Enchanted Forest Sanctuary in Titusville, FL.
 Like any dad it was my grandest hope that as Jack grew up he might share my interest in birds or at the very least an appreciation for nature.  I knew full well that this kind of passion has to come from within so I never dared to force it upon him.  He has certainly developed a pretty good working knowledge of natural things for a 7 year old and I’m only too happy to walk with him in whichever direction he chooses to go.

  I am also an avid wildlife photographer and just for fun some time last year he took a ride with me through Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.  In order to make it a little more interesting, I put one of my cameras on a tripod, put it in front of him and told him to let it rip!  Once he had a few shutter clicks under his belt he turned to me and said “I think I could really get into this!”  My heart skipped a beat. 

American Bittern My Dad said this is a secretive bird. It didn’t look like a secret to me, it let me take lots of pictures of it.

by Tom Dunkerton 



Horned Grebe: So many people were taking pictures of this bird because it was so close.  It was fun to watch it dive for fish.  It came up for air right in front of me!



We’ve been going out birding and shooting about once a week for the past couple of months and I’ve always told him when he doesn’t want to go just say so, the worst thing I could do is make him do something he doesn’t feel like doing, except for homework of course!
 Needless to say it’s been a fun winter for him and I and what’s made it even better is the wonderful array of waterfowl and other wintering birds we’ve been viewing at Merritt Island NWR.  The opportunity to get up close and personal with any species goes a long way when trying to explain field marks, differentiate males and females and especially for attributing behaviors to specific birds.



Belted Kingfisher:  So many times we tried to get pictures of the Belted Kingfisher but he always flew away, I guess this one just got too tired.


While I’ve done all the yammering this time, in the future Jack and I will be embarking on monthly adventures to a variety of Great Florida Birding Trail sites around the Space Coast area and we’re looking forward to sharing what we find.