Eric Groshens' photo of a female red-winged blackbird clinging to cattail stalks in Nowthen, Minn., is the winner of the Minnesota Star Tribune’s spring nature photo contest. (Eric Groshens)
Judging from his initial results with his new camera, Eric Groshens’ birding photography is taking flight.
Groshens’ striking image of a female red-winged blackbird clinging to cattail stalks is the winner of the Minnesota Star Tribune’s spring nature photo contest.
The Elk River man captured the moment while on a trail near the shore at Twin Lakes City Park in nearby Nowthen shortly after he bought a new Sony camera.
The Minnesota Star Tribune photographers who judged contest submissions singled out Groshens’ photograph for the symmetry of the small bird’s legs clinging separately to stalks, as if scaling a narrow space. He was happy, too, when he got home and looked at his images.
“That is a unique picture to capture,” he said.
Groshens, who also won an honorable mention with a different photo in the contest, said his building interest in bird photography is driven by his efforts to spend more time outside. He is even finding support at his job at Dedicated Networks in Brooklyn Park, where he is an account manager.
One of his meetings includes a “bird segment” where he and his colleagues share their photography. A friend encouraged him to submit his solitary red-winged blackbird in a photo contest.