Book Review: Bob Kovar’s Beneath the Eagle Tree
Beneath the Eagle Tree, a Book Combining Nature Photography & Language Like No Other
Mike Ivey
Birkie skiers may recognize the name Bob Kovar, 68, from his many years skiing in the front waves. But his photography and writing have been drawing most of the attention these days.
For several years, Kovar has ventured out his home in Manitowish Waters to catch the sunrise over Wild Rice Lake. The idea was to snap a photo for his school-teaching wife, Carolyn, who was busy in the mornings getting ready for work. Kovar usually set up in the same secluded spot near a creek connecting the area’s chain of lakes. There’s an eagle’s nest in a small woodlot along the shoreline. The morning photoshoots grew into a regular thing and Kovar started sharing the daily sunrise with a growing legion of fans on Facebook. When COVID struck, he started adding his personal reflections to the photos.
“I was really upset with all the divisiveness in the world at the time,” Kovar said, “and I challenged myself to write something positive and post whatever I was thinking at the time.”
Now, Kovar has pulled everything together in a book titled “Beneath the Eagle Tree: Early Morning Dreamscapes in Portrait and Verse.” The photos within go far beyond sunrises and landscapes, featuring amazingly detailed shots of the Northwood flora and fauna, and everything from wolves and fox, to dragonflies and hummingbirds. What sets Kovar’s effort apart from other nature photobooks are the heartfelt, uplifting writings attached to the vivid photographs.
Kovar has a knack for giving nature a human persona, such as when he observes that while morning fog in April … is still one part winter and one part spring, the day floats there heavy, expectant with hope, patient and pink waiting for first light and some real warmth to be born.
The book features a breathtaking closeup of a spiderweb covered in morning dew, which sparked Kovar’s memory of his grade school plastic protractor and whether man could ever build something … so perfect and strong that water droplets would feel safe enough to flock to this like birds on a wire and where they would pass the rest of the morning burbling and babbling and gushing, joyously telling people upside-down stories and singing see-through songs.
Each of the 128 pages offers a new color plate or two, always with an observation ranging from Zen-like musings to self-deprecating humor. For example, Kovar describes a failed attempt at creating a bear-proof birdfeeder as a bruin tore it down the first night it went up, while Kovar ran out in his underwear to rescue what remained of his contraption.
Kovar relishes sub-zero degree mornings, while the natural world continues going about its business. Many snow-and-ice shots show otters splashing in frigid water, while summer scenes reveal building thunderheads and fawns hiding amid wildflowers.
A native of Wilmette, IL, Kovar spent his childhood’s summers in Manitowish Waters on family property owned by his grandfather. He later earned a degree at UW-Madison in wildlife ecology and was in graduate school studying landscape architecture when life changed course and he moved north for good with Carolyn, where the couple raised two children. Kovar worked in the cranberry industry, spending the next two decades managing the 600-acre cranberry marsh owned by Tom Folsom.
Looking for a new challenge, Kovar teamed with fellow Northland naturalist John Bates to launch, in 1996, the North Lakeland Discovery Center, a nature-based education and community center. Bates had urged Kovar to put his photos and writing together in “Beneath the Eagle Tree” and also wrote an introduction to the book. Daughter Callie Bates provided editing help.
Kovar then took on another project, connecting elementary and middle school kids from the Lac de Flambeau Indian Reservation with white students from the Lakeland school district. The Intercultural Leadership Program earned national accolades and support from charities associated with NASCAR racing legend Dale Earnhardt. “I guess I just like being involved,” Kovar said, crediting his late mother for teaching him about the value of community service and giving back to others.
This all comes through in “Beneath the Eagle Tree,” which offers readers a chance to join in Kovar’s fascination with the natural world and find meaning in the words and images he so lovingly shares.
“Beneath the Eagle Tree” can be purchased for $29.95 through www.bobkovar.com, where you can also see more of Kovar’s outstanding photography.
