Bonita Portzline, creation care liaison at Fairfield Mennonite Church, Gettysburg, Pa., enjoys birding and nature photography near her home. She shares her photographs in public settings
where she focuses on natural history or the theology of ecology, depending on the setting. Bonita writes:
I learned to be a birder from a mentor friend—on Gettysburg National Military Park where we’d take a lunch and enjoy finding birds to identify. It was and is remarkable to think that the National Park Service’s efforts to preserve sacred historical lands does in fact help to conserve vital habitat for birds and other creatures.
For me there is much meaning in being able to share what God has allowed me to witness with a camera. One part of this is a statement of peace—that nature’s beauty and quiet eventually return to fields where there was battle and death. In my calling to share images of the beauty and the wonders of the Creator, I also hope to convey that we need to preserve God’s abundant and overflowing blessings.
Photo 1: The Northern Flicker is also referred to as yellow-shafted—quite evident in a shot I was blessed to catch!
Photo 2: Above, a Northern Harrier upstages a Red-tailed Hawk somewhere in the background at the Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg, Pa.
Photo 3: Little icicles hanging from a tree where a Yellow-rumped Warbler landed. In the winter, it helps birds if we can provide water for hydration rather than their eating cold snow.
