I want here to introduce a photographer who has been carrying her camera in our preserve for many years, documenting birds and sky and plant-life, mammals and insects and magic. Rona Neri (www.ronasphotography.com) is a “self-taught” award-winning artist whose work is widely recognized and appreciated (by me too). Photography lets her “express my wonder for the natural world.” Rona has made a collection of photos available to us to provide examples of the life at Pleasant Valley Conservancy. It is a very generous offer, and we thank her very much! I will soon begin to incorporate her images more widely in this website and will for sure use them freely in my blog, beginning now. Following up on my last blog, Happy Bluebird Trails, Rona’s pics elevate these birds to the wonder that they are.

Orchard orioles are abundant summer residents at Pleasant Valley, but until now have not been so well captured. They are, along with red-headed woodpeckers, what I consider a “signature “ species on the preserve. I will share Rona’s red-heads in a future blog.

Keep revisiting our web pages over the summer, beginning in a few weeks, and look for Rona’s name appearing under new photo additions. I expect her art will inspire us all to really see, not just document, the landscape and the lives we all need to enrich our own.