For the birds

Anya Tikka
Posted 8/21/12

REGION — Ever wonder how high-pressured medical professionals unwind? Dr. Paramjeet Singh, who is a surgeon with the Orange Regional Medical Group, found an outlet in outdoor photography while …

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For the birds

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REGION — Ever wonder how high-pressured medical professionals unwind? Dr. Paramjeet Singh, who is a surgeon with the Orange Regional Medical Group, found an outlet in outdoor photography while taking a much needed break a few years ago. “I took a short break two years ago from my busy schedule, and went hiking on Perkins Memorial Drive in Bear Mountain,” he explained. “I met a couple who were counting hawks in their fall migration. They got me into hawk counting and hawk photography.” He’s never looked back and spends his spare time now photographing hawks and eagles.

“I stay local,” he continued, “in Orange, Rockland and Ulster Counties, and also in New Jersey.”

Last weekend, Dr. Singh had a sighting of a very rare hawk; the arctic gyrfalcon appeared in Shawangunk Grasslands in Ulster County, giving bird spotters and photographers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Singh said many hawk counters have been doing it for 40 years, and have never seen a gyrfalcon until now.

The rare hawk came this far south to find something to eat, Singh said.

He said it’s unusually cold now in the arctic. “It’s [our] warm weather compared to the cold weather up north. It must be much colder, freezing where they usually feed in the north. They are bird eaters; if they don’t have enough to eat and prey on, they come down south.”

He stressed how this particular falcon is extremely rare. “It’s an unusual phenomenon. And last winter, several snowy owls came down; they are very rare in the south too.”

Many people know snowy owls from the Harry Potter books and movies.

Singh added that the gyrfalcon will stay only for a couple of days before going back.

He said he has used art as a way to relax since his residency, when he used to paint. He says he uses the same skills in both surgery and hawk photography.

“There is a connection. They are both delicate things you do with the fingers. You use decision making that’s required daily in surgery while making decisions on [whether] to cut or not to cut; tie or not to tie; or when or how hard to exert pressure. All of these require mathematical skills that are learned over time, the same way an artist makes decisions while calculating the exposure of a good picture. It’s creativity—expression of a picture or making minor decisions during surgery. These are all relative, critical decisions during patient care or during any endeavor,” he said.

Singh said his decision to become a surgeon came as a result of a middle-class background, and there was a point during his training when he pondered about becoming an artist. His parents were hard-working immigrants, and he said, “I had to work hard to get where I am today.” He is now a liver surgeon, specializing in liver and pancreatic cancer, as well as breast-cancer surgery.

Singh uses a Canon 5D Mark 3 camera and a 500mm F/4 lens for photographing birds.

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