If UK wins the NCAA championship Monday night who know what will happen. (Update: They did it.)

Kentucky fans celebrate after beating Louisville in NCAA tourney – Images by David Stephenson

The Humane Society of the United States aids dog victims of Kentucky tornado – Images by David Stephenson

Only days after vicious tornados ripped through Kentucky, The Humane Society of the United States had set up an emergency animal shelter in London, Ky., to aid animals and their families.

Sandhill Cranes migrate through Kentucky – Images by David Stephenson

Sandhill cranes gather at a roosting location along their winter migration route in Cecilia, near Elizabethtown, Kentucky. According to counts made by biologists with the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Resources, about 6,900 of the birds stopped in Cecilia on Tuesday night during their winter northward migration on their way to their nesting grounds in the Great Lakes Region.

These birds, which are part of the Eastern population of sandhill cranes, are part of a group estimated to be larger than 70,000 birds, many of which were wintering in Florida. The migration in Kentucky is expected to be peaking at this time based on historical data gathered by wildlife biologists with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

For the first time in nearly a century, Kentucky just completed a hunting season on sandhill cranes. The season, which ran from Dec. 17, 2011, to Jan. 15, 2012, resulted in a harvest of 50 birds. The hunting season was scheduled to fall between the southward and northward migrations in order to maximize the viewing potential of the birds but still allow for hunting opportunity

While we were there, boxing champion and UK grad Darrin Van Horn stopped in for a visit and gave some in-the-ring pointers to Bo Biggers, a University of Kentucky student who is in his early career as a boxer.

Thomas Kinchen, aka Rocky, showed up for a workout with his sister Samantha. Rocky, who just won a title belt last weekend in his division, was the subject of the first video I made using the 5D Mark II in 2008. Also towards the end of the gallery you’ll notice a few iPhone Hipstamatic photos.

Legends Boxing Gym – Images by David Stephenson

Dave LaBelle likes to give me a hard time about when we first met. I was in high school and thinking of coming to WKU for the photojournalism program. I handed him a copy of Bird Talk Magazine and inside was a photo of a white dove that I had taken (I raised doves and pigeons as a kid). Of course I was proud, especially since I was paid $25 for that photo. I made a copy of the check and put it in a photo album which I still have 25 years later. Little did I realize that Mr. LaBelle had his own passion for pigeons as a child.

Now as an adult I raise and race homers in my back yard. I’ve been taking photos of them during training tosses and as they fly around the house, but I’ve never been able to get anything as clean and sharp as I’d like. After a visit to a fellow club member’s loft this week, I realized he had a better space and many more white pigeons. So this morning I went over to his loft with a piece of black felt, a Canon Mark IV, two strobes on clamps and spent an hour photographing his birds. I love all the different shapes they make when flying – it’s just not something you can discern when they are moving so fast. Maybe I can get Bird Talk to publish one . . .

Mr. LaBelle, this post is for you. You ready to get racing again??

(BTW, let me make an important distinction for those of you who may watch or photograph those “white dove” releases at weddings or funerals: The birds being released are white homers just like you see in the photos above. They are NOT doves. The release business knows darn well that no one would hire them to release pigeons, so they call them doves. The white pigeons go home and can therefore be available again for the next release. Domesticated doves would just go off into the wild and likely die. I remember getting into an argument with a copy desk about a caption I wrote and they wouldn’t believe me that they weren’t doves. **end rant**)

Below is a collection of other photos of my birds and friends birds:

Homing Pigeons Collection – Images by David Stephenson