Preface

"There is clearly, a deep bond between them that I have yet to fathom."

Keoni’s interest in birds started when he was still very young. He would take pictures of them while we were out in the province or taking walks in parks. His frustration over the quality of the resulting images became so evident that I decided to buy him his first camera with a 300 mm lens when he was thirteen. For his age, the pictures he took with it were stunning. Even professional birders we came across at the La Mesa Park were impressed. But more than the pictures, I was amazed at his ability to locate birds and calm them down so that he could take exquisite photos at incredibly close range. In one remarkable occasion, a tailor bird, known to be extremely shy and skittish, flew around him and perched less than three feet away, as though asking to be photographed. It lingered for more than five minutes. In another instance, a wild brown humming dove, the kind so difficult to stalk, flew by us and perched on a branch close by. I warned Keoni not to go too near, fearing it would fly away. But he calmly approached the bird until he was about four or five meters from it, lingering in its great position until Keoni had his photo fill. I was speechless, and since then, left him to seek birds on his own. In a week, he acquired images of more than thirty kinds of birds that I never even imagined inhabited our woodlot in Sorsogon.

Keoni is not just an ordinary bird lover. Strange as it may sound, he communicates with them and understands them. There is clearly, a deep bond between them that I have yet to fathom. It is a gift that only the Creator of beauty can bequeath and I am so happy my grandson Keoni has it.