Each year the Audubon Community Nature Center of Jamestown, N.Y., hosts its popular nature photography contest, inviting individuals from throughout the Twin Tiers and beyond to enter their best work.
This year, Bradford’s Pat Frantz Cercone took home a prestigious award for her amazing capture, “Four Course Dinner,” of a hungry red fox that appears to be looking for the nearest picnic table to set up its eclectic mix of catches for the day’s dinner.
Cercone explained the process behind capturing this amazing photo, and others intriguing fox photos.
“We had been seeing foxes near Allegany State Park since late spring,” she said. “Each time we saw one, it would stop, look at us while we looked at it, and sometimes come closer, which not only was amazing but also gave me ample opportunities to get what I think were some good photos.
“Then on the Fourth of July, we saw one in the same area that was on the move. I jumped out of the car — I was so excited the car hadn’t completely stopped — to take photos.”
While Cercone was occupied taking photos from behind her lens, she explained that her traveling partner and husband, Judge Dominic Cercone, noticed that this fox had something in its mouth.
“This time, the fox wasn’t interested in checking us out,” Pat Cercone said. “It stopped only for a second to look at me before it took off. Fortunately, I got one decent photo. It wasn’t until we got home, and I looked at the photo on a bigger screen that I realized it had four critters in its mouth!”
The four critters included, starting from the top, a chipmunk, a mouse, a mole and a bird. “Pretty wild,” Cercone exclaimed.
Cercone was the winner of the Adult Community Choice award, in the Fauna category. She is executive director of communications and marketing at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford and a former editor at The Era.
Community Choice winners receive the most votes on the contest website at GoGoPhotoContest.com/ACNCPhotoContest. Three additional youth photographers, as well as three adults also received finalist recognition.
Among adult finalists were Dan Jordan of Allegany, N.Y., who submitted “Majestic Bald Eagle on Allegheny River” (Fauna). Jordan’s photos, many of them of bald eagles in the Twin Tiers, have appeared in The Era and the Olean Times Herald.
Youth, ages 8 to 18, and Adult, ages 19 and older, entries were submitted in the categories of Fauna and Landscapes/Waterscapes — Fauna includes any wild animal while Landscapes/Waterscapes can be mountains, forests, fields, deserts, oceans, lakes, ponds, rivers, creeks and more.
Cercone said she received the news last week when she received a letter from Jeff Tome, the organizer of the photo contest.
“I was so excited and particularly thrilled when he wrote that my photo ‘is an example of what nature photography does at its best — bringing to life a chunk of an animal’s life that is rarely seen. …’” explained Cercone. “I’m a relatively new wildlife photographer, and I still have much more to learn. I’ve been photographing critters since 2019 when Dom bought me a camera for Christmas. — Best. Gift. Ever!”
Other adult finalists of the nature photo competition include:
While the Youth finalists include:
Currently, a panel of judges is reviewing all of the contest entries — including the Community Choice winners — to determine the Adult and Youth overall winners of the photo contest, with those decisions to be announced when the judging is complete.
All winners will receive a $200 cash prize, and their photographs will be on display at the Nature Center in Jamestown.
Funds raised from the contest will help to support the more than 1,400 nature education programs that ACNC offers annually throughout both Chautauqua and Warren Counties.
Audubon Community Nature Center is located at 1600 Riverside Road, one-quarter mile east of Route 62 between Jamestown, N.Y., and Warren, Pa. Visitors can enjoy the grounds, with its six miles of trails, and visit Audubon’s three non-releasable birds of prey, dawn to dusk daily, free of charge.
Cercone said photographing the abundant wildlife in the area has been rewarding.
“We are so fortunate to live in a place where we regularly see so many beautiful animals: foxes, deer, ospreys and eagles, beavers, etc.”
To learn more about Audubon and its many programs, call (716) 569-2345, find Audubon Community Nature Center on Facebook, or visit AudubonCNC.org.
