SCIENCE

Bird Watching Has Never Been More Fun

These photos by portraitist Leila Jeffreys are for the birds

Jeff Campagna

November 3, 2015

Jimmy, the budgerigar. “There really isn’t a more Australian bird than the budgie,” writes Leila Jeffreys in *Bird Love*. From *Bird Love*, images © Leila Jeffreys

Neville, a Major Mitchell’s cockatoo. Major Mitchell was a Scottish-born Australian explorer. From *Bird Love*, images © Leila Jeffreys

Seisa the palm cockatoo. “I have never met a more curious bird than Seisa, the palm cockatoo. She looked so otherworldly that I imagined I was photographing an alien species,” writes Leila Jeffreys in *Bird Love*. From *Bird Love*, images © Leila Jeffreys

Tani, the Australian masked owl. “Tani was so sweet and her expressions so like ours, I felt like I was photographing a small human wrapped in a crocheted shawl,” writes Leila Jeffreys in *Bird Love*. From *Bird Love*, images © Leila Jeffreys

Pepper, the southern boobook. The southern boobook is Australia’s smallest and most common owl. It gets its name from the sound of its hoot. From *Bird Love*, images © Leila Jeffreys

Oscar the eclectus parrot. “Oscar flew onto my shoulder during the shoot and even tried to press a few buttons!” writes Leila Jeffreys in *Bird Love*. From *Bird Love*, images © Leila Jeffreys

Charlie, the black-headed gouldian finch. Finches don’t like to keep still, which makes them difficult to photograph. From *Bird Love*, images © Leila Jeffreys

Wonder is a timid albino turkey vulture with poor eyesight. Leila Jeffreys photographed him at the Ojai Raptor Center in California, and “there is a gentleness to him that makes me melt,” she writes in *Bird Love*. From *Bird Love*, images © Leila Jeffreys

Bob, the American kestrel. Leila Jeffreys photographed Bob at the Ojai Raptor Center in California. From *Bird Love*, images © Leila Jeffreys

Australian portrait photographer Leila Jeffreys does an uncanny job of capturing her subjects’ personalities. Her subjects just happen to be the feathered kind.

And how does she make a falcon or wild cockatoo pose for her? She waits. “Rather than racing in, getting the shot and moving on, I prefer to take it slowly, so that I can put the birds’ needs first,” Jeffreys writes via email. She also tries to establish a sense of familiarity to help keep her subjects calm and comfortable. “Where possible, I spend a lot of time with the birds and their caretakers so that we all form a bond.”

In her new book, Bird Love, Jeffreys’ beautiful, highly detailed bird portraits makes readers want to reach out and feel the texture of the feathers. And Jeffreys’ own personality comes through in her charming, intelligent descriptions of her subjects.

Bird Love

Fine art photographer Leila Jeffreys captures the beauty and diversity of some of our most colorful and elegant feathered friends

Some wildlife photographers favor more thrilling four-legged species, but not Jeffreys. A lover of “any critters with feathers, fur or fangs,” she picked up her bird obsession as a child, growing up in places such as Papua New Guinea, India and Perth, Australia, and developed it through adulthood.

“Native birds are one of the last major links to wildlife in our urbanized environments,” Jeffreys writes. “We’re fortunate that some species have been able to adapt to surviving in cities, which means we come into contact with them more often than other animals, and through that we form an affection for them.”

Jeffreys finds the majority of her subjects through volunteer wildlife organizations and is pleased when her work ends up increasing support for those institutions. “It’s a win-win-win if I can work as an artist but also have a public platform to let people know what incredible work is being done and who’s doing it,” writes Jeffreys. “The wildlife [conservationists] are amazing and modest, so they don’t always promote what they do–they just get on with it.”

At this point, Jeffreys has photographed over 100 different bird species. Her most willing subjects? “Parrots! They are the most humanlike of any bird. We seem to connect very easily with them.” I ask if she’s had to photograph many angry birds, yet she can’t recall one. “They can be shy, curious, contemplative, brave,” writes Jeffreys, “but not really angry.”