Soaring Winners of the 2022 Bird Photographer of the Year Competition
Urban Birds, Bronze Award Winner – Kerry Wu, “The Owlet and the Dump.” © Kerry Wu | Bird Photographer of the Year
“Bottles, glass, plastic, jugs, car tyres, derelict furniture. These discarded items are not what we usually think of as typical Barred Owl habitat. Nevertheless, this was exactly what one family was obliged to tolerate. The location is not a formal garbage dump as such, but rather a creek that runs through an urban park. Above the ravine is a native forest that this owlet, its family and many other wild animals call home. The owlets bathe and play around the creek, which unfortunately is where rubbish is dumped and accumulates. While I was watching the scene, one of the owlets even picked up a large rusty screw and ‘played’ with it as if it were a twig. At one point it looked right at me as if to say, ‘What have you done to my home?’ The ravine is, but shouldn’t be, a dumping ground and this scene broke my heart. Nature is not a landfill site. We can do better. We must do better.”
“Bottles, glass, plastic, jugs, car tyres, derelict furniture. These discarded items are not what we usually think of as typical Barred Owl habitat. Nevertheless, this was exactly what one family was obliged to tolerate. The location is not a formal garbage dump as such, but rather a creek that runs through an urban park. Above the ravine is a native forest that this owlet, its family and many other wild animals call home. The owlets bathe and play around the creek, which unfortunately is where rubbish is dumped and accumulates. While I was watching the scene, one of the owlets even picked up a large rusty screw and ‘played’ with it as if it were a twig. At one point it looked right at me as if to say, ‘What have you done to my home?’ The ravine is, but shouldn’t be, a dumping ground and this scene broke my heart. Nature is not a landfill site. We can do better. We must do better.”
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14 June 2023
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