Taking her best shots
Geneva photographer Jackie Bowman is a birder on a joyful
mission
 |
| Jackie Bowman, last year in Newfoundland. Photo by Regina McNulty. |
Extreme rarities are famous for luring birders into trains, planes, and automobiles. The prospect of a once-in-a-lifetime sighting is a powerful force.
But the hobby offers no guarantees. Rare bird chases, when
successful, produce a birder’s version of the runner’s high—pure exhilaration served
with a side of relief. The alternative, when the target bird goes AWOL, can be soul-crushing
disappointment.
Geneva resident Jackie Bowman weighed the risk and decided
to go for it, booking a flight to New Jersey along with her friend Nancy Schnaitman
in early 2024. Her goal: see and photograph a wayward Red-flanked Bluetail,
apparently blown off course from northern Europe. The bird was visiting a
feeder inside a senior living community and could move on at any moment.
Thankfully, the bluetail was still on view when Jackie
arrived on site. Life bird No. 800 secured.
Fast forward to last June, in Adak, Alaska, where Jackie,
again birding with Nancy, achieved her 800th photographed bird, a
Common Greenshank.
 |
| Common Greenshank, Jackie's 800th photographed species. |
The same appendage features artistic renderings of her 700th
lifer, a Blue-billed White Tern in Hawaii, and her 700th photo bird,
a Red-breasted Sapsucker in Seattle.
Being semi-retired, Jackie has the flexible work schedule every
listing birder craves. She loves to travel, especially for birds. Husband
Chris, a serious birder himself, ushered her into the hobby. Jackie latched on
in a big way, with a particular focus on photography.
It began with a bird, of course, when she and Chris were
vacationing at Badlands National Park in 2009. They spotted a Western Kingbird by
a restaurant parking lot. It was not shy, virtually begging Jackie to raise her
Nikon. The experience—followed by a photogenic family of Western Flycatchers in
Custer State Park—made a large impression. She realized that taking pictures of
birds could be challenging and fun, plus it paired up perfectly with Chris’s birding
addiction, which had reignited in 2007.
 |
| This Western Kingbird, in Badlands National Park, marked the beginning of Jackie's avian photo quest. |
Predictably, Jackie was soon yearning for a long lens, since
most birds are seldom as close and cooperative as those first ones in South
Dakota. For guidance, she turned to her small network of birder/photographer
friends.
“The overwhelming advice,” she recalled, “was to buy the
best and biggest that you think you can afford, and then maybe a little bit
more, because you’ll never regret it.”
Jackie settled on 300mm that she remembers costing and weighing
as much as a used car. She took up kitchen counter push-ups to build arm
strength. Using a tripod, she found, limited her movement, a particular disadvantage
when shooting birds in flight.
More equipment upgrades followed. Her current gear, acquired
in 2022, is a Nikon Z9 mirrorless body with a matching 400mm lens. A 1.4
teleconverter brings her subjects even closer.
 |
| This photogenic Atlantic Puffin awaited Jackie in Newfoundland in 2025. |
Jackie doesn’t consider herself a professional photographer
and yet her images are on that level. She developed her skills through an
online course and by hours of browsing on Flickr, studying the camera settings
of bird and nature photographers whose work she admired. Most valuable,
however, have been the tips received from fellow birders who also prioritize photography.
Don Blecha, Vic Berardi, Rob Curtis and Nolan Lameka are among them.
Not all incoming advice is camera-related or technical. For
example, Blecha, a former hunter, coached her on how to get closer to birds
without disturbing them.
Another key to success, Jackie said, is to go where the
birds raise their families.
“When they are on territory, they are calmer, they’re in a
different mindset. Birds on migration are in a hurry and tend to be fidgety.”
 |
| Jackie's newest tattoo commemorates her 800th lifer (Red-flanked Bluetail) and 800th photographed species (Common Greenshank). Photo by Joe Pinto, the artist. |
Jackie has so far birded in 29 states and Newfoundland, the
latter being a bucket-list trip with friends in 2025. Geographically, her
birding and photography focus is the “ABA area,” which primarily includes the
U.S. and Canada. ABA stands for American Birding Association, the preeminent
membership organization for the hobby (aba.org).
The official ABA-area checklist currently shows 1,161
species. Jackie has seen 842 of them and photographed 815. Her photo total places
in the top 10 of all ABA listers.
Adding birds to the portfolio isn’t easy. Jackie said she’d have
to travel to the remote islands of Alaska and stay for weeks to shoot 20 new species
and move up in rank.
“I don’t see myself doing that so for now it’s one bird at a
time,” which explains that quickie trip to New Jersey. There were also two separate
missions to Brownsville, Texas, also in early 2024, for a vagrant Fan-tailed
Warbler. She got a glimpse of the bird on the second try but was unable to nab
a photo.
Despite missing that shot, the Rio Grande Valley remains one
of Jackie’s favorite birding destinations. She’ll be going back. However, she follows
a rule: “no new trips until the last one is finished.” Her Nikon rips off 20 frames
per second, so a birding trip can bring home 10 to 15 thousand images! Weeding through
them to find the best shots can take weeks.
 |
| Butterflies are a favorite subject, too: Jackie shot this Zebra Swallowtail in southern Illinois. |
The couple’s yard list is eye-popping, too: 172 species.
When I visited, a Sandhill Crane they call Junior strolled by the patio.
Jackie’s rarest local bird came in 2014, a Fork-tailed
Flycatcher at Gunnar Anderson Forest Preserve in Geneva, discovered by Chris.
About 150 birders enjoyed the epic bird, a bonus lifer for nearly all of them.
Treat yourself by visiting Nature’s Joy Photography,
Jackie’s website and store. The well-named site is nicely organized and
searchable, packed with remarkable bird, wildlife and nature images. Many have
accompanied this column over the years, for which I am deeply grateful.
Copyright 2026 by Jeff Reiter. All rights reserved.