Wildlife exhibit opens today
Local photographer Gena Flanigen has more than three dozen photos on display at The Martha Berry Museum.
Abundant wildlife of Berry College will be the focus of a nearly sixmonth exhibit opening today at The Martha Berry Museum. More than three dozen photographs taken by local wildlife photographer Gena Flanigen will be featured along with static exhibits of animals from the Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta.
The exhibit will run through Aug. 18.
Visitors will be able to leaf through a notebook featuring old newspaper articles and letters which indicate the desires of Martha Berry to create a bird and wildlife sanctuary on the country’s largest college campus.
Flanigen, a retired educator, is a native of Rome and got serious about her photography, like many others, after a pair of bald eagles started nesting right behind the Cage Center at Berry.
“Photographing those eagles became my classroom and forced me to learn how to use my camera,” Flanigen said. Her thousands of photos of the eagle has resulted in two photography books, “Strength and Beauty” and “Majestic.”
While known for her eagle photographs, Flanigen has a passion for much smaller, less conspicuous birds, particularly warblers. Many of the brightly colored smaller birds, which can be found around the Berry campus, are included in the exhibition. She credits Renee Carlton, a biology professor at Berry, for cultivating her interest in the smaller birds.
The photographer credits Rachel McLucas and Alice Stevens at the museum with encouraging her to develop the exhibit. She also said her husband, Rick Flanigen, has been a great encourager and supportive of all the time she spends in the woods with her camera.
Museum admission is $8 for adults, $7 for senior citizens and $5 for students.
During the run of “Sanctuary at Berry,” Berry faculty and community members will present lectures on various topics, such as: the white-tailed deer, the Berry College bald eagles, striped bass spawning, and ongoing Eastern bluebird and coyote research. Dates for the lectures will be released as soon as the details are finalized.