Bird Photos on Display Through Aug. 28
Photographer Udo Rauter tries to capture the personalities of birds in his pictures, and he’s willing to wait for just the right moment to trip the shutter.
Once he and a group of other birders were photographing a snowy owl on a hill. Rauter waited until all the others had left, and then he waited a little longer.
“The sun was setting on the horizon, and the snowy stretched his wing a little bit and I happened to capture that moment. For me, that is a special picture,” Rauter said.
Rauter’s close-up photos of snowy owls, warblers, herons and a variety of other birds are on exhibit at the Conservation Center, the headquarters of the Society for the Protection of N.H. Forests, in Concord until Aug. 28.
Many of the photos show birds in action, such as the flying Cape May warbler stretching its neck while opening its beak in hot pursuit of a doomed insect two inches ahead of it. A determined-looking northern hawk owl taking off toward the camera, an egret with a wet tadpole in its beak, a northern parula warbler perching amidst apple blossoms – all are captured in glorious detail.
Rauter, of Chichester, was born in Germany and started photographing as a teenager there with his Leica camera. He later moved to the U.S. but didn’t fully pursue his craft until retiring five years ago and investing in professional gear, including a 600 ml Nikon lens for getting the kinds of close-ups he was after.
“You can take a picture of a bird 300 yards away from you and still get an excellent picture with great detail without disturbing the birds,” he said.
Rauter’s photographs are available for viewing Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Conservation Center Conference Room, located at 54 Portsmouth St. in Concord. The Conference Room is used for meetings, so please call (603) 224-9945 before visiting.