Thank you Donna and Jim

Congratulations, Donna and Jim, on 18 years of serving the nature photography community.  

Your site has been a wonderful opportunity for all of us to share our passion for photographing nature and for many of us an opportunity to learn and improve our craft.  
Several years ago I decided to "focus" my photography on birds.  I think that without a site such as yours, where I was able to display my work and receive constructive feedback, I may not have pursued this activity as avidly.  And, the means to provide feedback to others allowed me to better understand what I liked and didn't like and thus improve my own work.  I mean, I hadn't heard of catch light until I entered the Avian forum.

This photo of a Say's Phoebe illustrates some of what I've learned (at least to the extent that such a composition pleases me): the clean background that compliments the bird; the catch light; the head turn; the diagonal perch; having space for the bird to look into.   I still have a ways to go to reach the heights of others in the forum, but I've definitely improved during the years I've been a member of NPN and hopefully will continue to do so.

Thanks again and here's to another great 18 years.