Jacob Publishes His First Bird Field Guide

Jacob is an inspiring young man on a mission. He’s taken his passion for photography and created a Bird Field Guide for his local Bushland, Cussen Park. Jacob has also launched his new website, Digital Journey Photography. I hope his story inspires many young people to go out and do likewise. Here’s his story…

My adventure this month is actually a combination of many adventures.  I recently launched a book called “Birds Of Cussen Park,” which I produced with Mum.  Cussen Park is a bushland style park comprising 33 hectares of wetlands, woodlands and an open area located on the northern outskirts of Tatura in Northern Victoria.

Earlier this year, I said to Mum that I’d like to publish a field guide with all the birds of Cussen Park.  We visit the park often and I love to photograph the birds that visit when we are there.  Due to costs and the large number of birds which are known to frequent Cussen Park, but don’t visit regularly, it wasn’t possible to produce a large field guide. We then looked at other options and decided upon a booklet format, which included a Bird Directory of 30 photos and scientific descriptions of birds that visit the park.  There is also a checklist of all the birds that have been sighted in the back of the book which can be used to record your own sightings and a page for your own field notes.

Not all the bird photos in the book were taken at Cussen Park, because it is often difficult to get close enough or it is not their visiting season, so that is why the book is a combination of many adventures.  Earlier this year we travelled for four weeks around parts of South Australia, NSW and Queensland and with different climates I was able to get many photos of birds then.  Sometimes when we were travelling places from home, I would see a bird and ask Mum to stop the car so I could photograph it.  There is also another great place about 20km away from our home called Doctors Swamp, which I love to visit for great photos.

The Cussen Park Committee of Management supported the book also and came along to the launch to help promote it.  We invited people from organisations who we have met over the last few years when Mum and I have attended activities they organise.  These people have really supported and encouraged me with my learning and photography.  We also invited family and friends who have encouraged me also.

We have attended a couple of local Birdlife group outings recently and one of the members from the group fact checked all the information before it was ready for publication.

Producing this book was a project that used most areas of the curriculum and I learnt a lot because it’s something I really enjoy and am interested in.  The thing I enjoyed most about putting the book together was seeing all of the birds. My older brother has been helping us to set up a website called Digital Journey Photography which has a selection of my photographs available for sale as a download and we are adding new ones all of the time.  Mum and Dad are helping me to set up a career in photography, because photography is my passion.

The book was printed locally in Tatura and several local outlets are distributing it.  It is free, due to a donation and we are already getting a re-print due to its popularity.  A download of the book will be available soon from the Cussen Park Website.

Drop in and visit Jacob on his website. Let’s cheer him on!