600,000 photos of flying birds and the incredible math behind it all
High-speed continuous exposures of a bald eagle landing on a Douglas fir tree on Lopez Island in spring 2020. Cavanagh says he spent many mornings to get the combination of a bird and light and background. (Peter Cavanagh)
If it weren’t for passionate people, this would be a dull world indeed.
Peter Cavanagh, of Lopez Island, certainly qualifies in the passionate category, having taken 600,000 photos in the past 13 years of birds all over the world, from Botswana to the Galápagos Islands.
You could trim that 600,000 figure because to catch the birds just right he uses a high-speed mode on his cameras. That still means he’s nearly filled up a 20 terabyte hard drive (“tera” stands for trillion), with three more such drives he keeps for backup at different locations.
Cavanagh, 73, is a retired professor in the University of Washington orthopaedics and sports medicine department. He minored in math and is an instrument-rated pilot. His photos mostly capture birds in flight, not on a perch.
That’s the fascination: grace layered over complexity.
“I have a sense of wonder at flight because it is the most highly complex form of locomotion in the entire animal kingdom,” says Cavanagh. “Humans have spent more than six centuries trying to emulate bird flight but have still not produced flying machines with all of the complexity, flexibility and performance that is commonplace for birds.”
Peter Cavanagh, who’s taken 600,000 images of birds in flight all over the world, such as this osprey, focuses on the math of bird flight and how they don’t need the massive array of electronics and computers that a plane does. (Peter Cavanagh)
Peter Cavanagh, who’s taken 600,000 images of birds in flight all over the world such as this collared aracari, focuses on the math of bird flight and how they don’t need the massive array of electronics and computers that a plane does. (Peter Cavanagh)
The critically endangered great green macaw often produces only one chick a year. Cavanagh took this photo in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica in February 2020. The Macaw Recovery Network estimates there are only 500 to 1,000 of these birds left in the world. (Peter Cavanagh)
Using its wings as flippers, a puffin dives into the water to catch small fish. With their beaks full, they return to their burrows with food for their chicks. This image was taken in Inner Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. (Peter Cavanagh)