BIOGRAPHY

After photographing Spoon-billed Sandpiper in Khok Kham, Thailand - 2011
Just after photographing Spoon-billed Sandpiper
in Thailand with my guide (winter 2011)


Photographing Whiskered Terns in Qilihai Preserve, Tianjin, China
Marshes of Qilihai Preserve, China (spring 2010)



Southeast Arizona (summer 2006)


Monte Taylor (Chiba, Japan - 1998)
Chiba, Japan (fall 1998)

   Monte Taylor is a Canon Professional Photographer. He began his interest in birds and nature at the tender age of 9 years. That interest grew into wildlife photography which he has pursued now for over 50 years.

His images have been published in National Geographic, National Audubon Society Books, Field Guides and Magazines, Birding, Western Birds, and numerous other books, magazines, periodicals internationally, CD's, DVD's, and research papers over the last 30 years.

His accomplishments include photographing nearly all (over 800 species) of the expected bird species, including many of the rarest, in North America. To that he has added many of the large mammals, cetaceans, and sea mammals and expanded into species from Japan, China. Hong Kong, Thailand, and east Asia. He has also been in the number one position on the most photographed birds in the American Birding Association area (North America) for the last few years.

At present he has over 90,000 stock images of these species (and sub-species) in different poses, age groups, and activities.

His travels have taken him to each state and province on the North American continent, north of Mexico (and Mexico as well), including many trips to Japan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, and east Asia.

His most favorite places are Alaska (most favorite), California, southeastern Arizona, Florida, Ohio, Texas, Japan, China, British Columbia, Ontario, and Nova Scotia, Canada.


http://www.tsuru-bird.net (Bird and Mammal Website - including Cetaceans and Others from North America, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, and China)

http://www.tsuru-bird.net/image.htm (Individual Species list / links)


Camera Equipment
Canon 1D Mark IV Body (Digital) on order
Canon 1D Mark III Body (Digital)
Canon 7D Body (Digital)
Canon 40D Body (Digital)
Canon EOS 1N Body (35 mm film)
Canon 600 mm / f 4.0 USM Lens
Canon 400 mm / f 2.8 USM Lens
Canon 300 mm / f 2.8 USM Lens
Canon 100mm-400mm / f4.0-5.6 Lens
 Gitzo carbon-fiber tripod
Wimberly Gimbal Tripod Head
EX-580 / EX-580 II flash systems and hardware
+ Canon 1.4x, 2.0x, EF-25 and Extension Tubes
 
 

Sitting on the tundra in amongst the cotton grass north of Nome, Alaska on the Kougarok Road - 1990
 Along the Kougarok Rd (spring 1990),
85 miles north of Nome, Alaska
- where the Musk Ox and Grizzly roam !!

    
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
     
     
Photo Credits - Published Articles / Images
- 'National Geographic' books
- 'National Audubon Society' Field Guides
- American Birding Association 'Birding' Magazines
- American Birding Association "WingingIt Periodicals
- 'American Birds' Magazines
- 'Western Birds' Magazines
- 'Kaufman Birding Series Field Guides' books
- 'Peter Thayers Birders Diary' CD
- eNature (enature.com)
- Smithsonian Institute videos
- BioDiversity Institute (bdi.org)
- Oriental Bird Images (orientalbirdimages.org)
- Birds of Prey of the West Field Guide
- Adventure Publications books
- Roadrunner (Swedish Birding)
- Wikipedia.com Online Encylopedia Website
- and, numerous other books, CDs, magazines, research papers, wildlife area posters, and educational publications
- NEW - Feature Article in SURFBIRDS.COM    
      Go to:  http://www.surfbirds.com/mb/Features/800-birds.html    
     
HOME Image List BIO HELP
Home Image List by Family Photographer Bio Help


















































































 

 

 


A special thanks to my son, Christopher, who has been a wonderful inspiration.
Not only has he been a fellow photographer but, the greatest asset, strength,
and encourager in attaining the photos we now have in our collection.
His eyes and ears can spot anything!
The number of instances where his timely help, patience and skills have 'paid
off' in a great image are innumerable.  Also, for his fine work on helping in
the preparation of this web site and countless hours in preparing the
thumbnail images which are available on this site for you to view.
Thanks Son !

He has now entered the world of Nature Photography himself and excelling at it!!
My Sons Web Page:
http://www.kiwifoto.com
 


More About The Photographers


Christopher (aka "Chris" as most call him) :

Christopher on ATV at Gambell, St. Lawrence Island, Bering Sea, Alaska
Christopher at Gambell (St. Lawrence Is), Alaska
'four-wheeling' across the beach gravel!!		   Being my Son, I'm obviously a 'little' biased, but he's one terrific person!  Now that we have Dad's pride out of the way (for now) I'll 'attempt' to state the objective view!

  Christopher began his interest in Birds and Animals at the age of four.  He has been by my side on virtually every foray covering the entire U.S. from Barrow, Alaska to New Hampshire to Florida to Texas to Arizona and our home state of California, along with many of the states in between.  He has been able to master the art of field identification (with his keen eyes and expert ears) of nearly 700 species of North Americas birds as well as all the large mammals.

   Not stopping there, he is quite knowledgeable on plants, sea life, reptiles and amphibians, and the physical sciences such as Meteorology and Astronomy.
   His other mastered traits are in the area of computers.  At the tender age of 11 he had started his first BBS (Bulletin Board Service) and then by age 15 his first ISP (Internet Service Provider).  He is fluent in UNIX, NT, C++, Perl, Java, Ruby, ASP, and CGI scripting (if you are familiar with computer terms!).  His typing would amaze you as he types at a blistering speed of over 140 words per minute (yeah, 140 wpm! you think you are watching someone from another planet!!!).
   He is presently living in Marina Del Rey, CA doing Web page design and Search Engine software running his own computer business.  He is attending college there and expects to continue his degree in Computer Science.  He graduated from High School with honors, and scored a 100 percent on his Math SAT test (few individuals do this! - yeah, ok, so Dad is proud!).
   Probably our highlight trip thus far was to Alaska in 1997.  Christopher had listened to Dad's stories of all the great Alaska birding trips to Attu, Gambell, Barrow, etc. for years and had been hoping we could go there together someday so......we shared a special trip finally.  We covered most of the state, visiting Nome, Gambell (on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea), up to Barrow (the northernmost inhabited village in North America) on the Arctic Ocean, watching the pack ice still within a few feet of shore in June!, then to Denali National Park (home of the tallest mountain - Mt. McKinley - in North America), then down through Anchorage to Seward and Homer and then back to Anchorage.

  Now Christopher has become a phenomenal nature photographer in his own right and to see his website click here:  http://www.kiwifoto.com

 

 

 

 

Monte :



 		  
  
  My interest in nature, birds, mammals, and photography also started at a young age.  I've always been fascinated by the brilliant colors of many of our countries song birds and the variety and geographical differences in habitat that North America offers.  This has also been a 'magnet' for me - to travel to many of the far reaching points on this continent in search of some of the rarest species.  For those who are keenly interested in the birds of North America, there has grown a large group of individuals whose challenge has been to 'see' as many of the species found in the United States.  I fell into this group and its interest and took it another step further by trying not only to see as many of the species in the U.S. but also to photograph them as well.  I've also had a special interest in the birds and animals of Japan and have spent some time photographing the species there in the "land of the rising sun".

For those interested in the photo equipment utilized a somewhat brief summary follows:
  At age 6, I started with one of those old Kodak Brownie cameras (if anyone out there is old enough to remember that camera!) and by 14 had graduated to my first 35mm camera - a Minolta SRT-101.  In its day it was a decent camera, and because once you choose a camera body the lenses follow.  My first 'big' lens was a Vivitar 120-600mm with a f5.6 aperture speed.  Believe it or not, a few hand held shots with that lens still exist on the web site.  But, once the seriousness of getting sharp images became more of a priority, I finally broke down and bought a Minolta 9000 and an 8000i body along with a 300mm f2.8 APO lens.  That satisfied the sharpness requirement for the next several years and allowed me to get some decent shots that ended up in many magazines and books.  However, I found the Minolta system too slow.  Yep, the "fast" auto-focus Minolta lenses seemed to be more accustomed to focusing at a snails pace it seemed and after looking at the Canon EOS-1 body and lenses I decided right then and there (after missing so many photo ops due to slow focusing) to switch to the Canon system.  (Now I shoot with Canon 1D Mark III, 7D, and 40D bodies along with the lenses mentioned below)
    Well, for those of you who know the kinds of dollars we're speaking of here, that was no simple and inexpensive decision!  But, in the sake of getting shots the credit card came out of the wallet and now the system is comprised of both an EOS-1n body (film), 1D Mark III, 7D, and 40D bodies (digital), a 100mm-400 mm f5.6 lens, a 300mm f2.8 APO lens, a 400mm f2.8 APO lens, and finally the big boy itself - a 600mm f4 lens.  I utilize a carbon-fiber Gitzo tripod on nearly every single shot with rare exception (like out on boat trips of course!), and generally use a fresnel flash system as well.  But - I did say I'd keep this short - oh well!  Write me if ya want to know more!