Photography: Wildlife

Some photographs of nature & wildlife encounters, these images are a variety of things from animals, flowers, insects and everything in between!

Articles in Wildlife Photography Category

Snowy Owls In-Flight Alberta Raptors

Snowy Owl incoming photo captures the snowy owl at lift off in the prairies of Alberta, Canada.
Below is a tight crop of the same photo showing those snowy owl eyes up-close. Wow, what an amazing bird of prey. photographed on the Alberta prairies.

Northern Hawk Owl Photos In Flight - Alberta

A few recent photos of two different northern hawk owls in flight. Both shot on very dull overcast days, hopefully the next hawk owls will be in good light!
The photo at left was shot at ISO 400, Aperture f/2.8, Shutter Speed 1/2000th, both hawk owl photos are shot using the nikon 300mm 2.8 VR, handheld.

Nikon 300mm f/2.8 VR 2 Owls Review

Well, this new Nikon 300mm f/2.8 VR lens of mine is amazing, the detail, tracking and super fast focusing is a dream come true! My first test/play with the 300mm VR was in total overcast, very dull light and a fast moving object. These photos are in good light, and still a fast moving object. The VR works great, especially when panning a bird in flight.

Review Nikon 300mm f/2.8 VR Snow Storm Snowy Owls Lens Review

Review and my first day out testing my new Nikon 300mm f/2.8 VR on snowy owls in flight just west of Calgary, Alberta. Perfect review conditions, It was dark, total overcast, snowing like crazy and high winds that made matters worse, did I mention cold! But the nikkor 300mm f/2.8 VR tracked perfectly, locked on target even when the owl was just a blur behind blowing snow!

Snowy Owls Flight Photos

The last set of the snowy owls in flight, Moving on to other birds and beasts but I hope you enjoyed this series of the snowy owl in flight from Alberta Canada

Snowy Owls In Flight

Photographing the snowy owls here in alberta Canada, so here are a few more photos of a female snowy owl in flight.

Snowy Owls In A Snow Storm

Totally overcast and snowing like crazy when we found this snowy owl just east of Calgary.
My oldest son Tyler is in town and unlike his younger brother, has never seen a snowy owl before so we hit the road late this afternoon. Just 15 min. east of Calgary, we found out first snowy owl. In [...]

Gyrfalcon Photos, Alberta Canada

A few In-flight photos of a male white gyrfalcon attacking a ringed-neck pheasant in near white-out conditions in Alberta, Canada!

Great Horned Owl In-Flight

hree frames of a surprised great horned owl in-flight, only three frames because thats all I got as he passed by very quickly on a cold day.
Great light for photography, we also saw two snowy owls and one merlin falcon.

Alberta Snowy Owls

Photographing in-flight Alberta snowy owls in crappy light is still lots of fun, especially when they get good and close to the photographer!
The crappy light was due to a chinook arch, it was warm but very dull for in flight snowy owl photos.

Mountain Sheep Jumping Guard Rail Kananaskis Valley

I took a drive into the Kananaskis Valley Alberta on the weekend looking for, well anything that moved! I found a small heard of mountain sheep crossing a road and jumping over a roadside guard rail. It was fun as I test driving the Nikon 200-400mm f/4 VR lens on these sheep in action.

September Wood Ducks In-Flight Alberta

This evening I found a bunch of wood ducks getting ready for their evening flight. I photographed immature male wood ducks, adult male and females taking flight. Here are just a few.

Fall Dragonflies - Macro Photography

The photo of a dragonfly on the left is from tonight, the dragonfly below was from yesterday. No tripods for these two macr photos as both are handheld

Immature Bald Eagle - Bow River Calgary Alberta

A couple quick photos of an immature bald eagle in-flight fishing the Bow River here in Calgary Alberta
Other birds of prey seen this evening include, american kestrel, merlins, sharp-shinned hawk, 4 osprey’s, 1 adult bald eagle, blue heron, swainsins hawks, red-tail hawk and 1 great horned owl.

Macro Photography, Bugs & Extension Tubes

I love macro photography and use extension tubes almost exclusively. I have dedicated macro lenses, but I like the distance I gain from the subject using a 300mm f/4 nikkor lens and extension tubes.

Alberta Swainson’s Hawk - Dark Phase - Again!

I went looking for that dark phase or dark “morph” swainsons hawk tonight, and found him! It was the same swainson hawk posted here. I love these birds of prey, especially the the dark phase birds. Soon they will be gone, on their way to the fall migration to South America. A few photos [...]

Swainsons Hawk, Dark Morph/Phase in-Flight

A photo taken tonight of a dark morph, or dark phase swainsons hawk in-flight. These hawks are starting to gather, getting ready to make the long flight south. This swainsons hawk is shown screamiong with mouth open wide.

Merlin Attacks Kingbird, Kingbird Attacks Falcon

The falcon had just grabbed dinner, but it was not an easy catch! A second kingbird was in hot pursuit of the falcon and was attacking the merlin, actually landing on the merlins back.
Bad light, and it was going away from me, but I though it might be of interest to some.

American White Pelican Calgary Bow River Weir

Made a quick visit to the bow river weir in Calgary last evening to see how the american white pelicans are doing. They seem to be fine, I photographed about 30 of them flying around the weir looking for fish.

Summer Bucks Velvet

From a quick outing tonight, some good light and a summer buck deer with velvet antlers at sunset.
Other beasts seen include a male oriole feeding two female fledglings, kingbirds, a mule deer mom looking after her two fawns, an american goldfinch and a kestrel hoisting a young starling off and being chased by the family.

Babe in the Woods, Great Horned Owlet

I can’t help myself, taking photos of raptors, in this case owls is my favorite thing to photograph and tonight I finally had some light!
Because great horned owls are located in woods, finding light is always an issue, and if light is available, its usually blocked by trees or foliage. But tonight the rays of [...]

Alberta Prairie Falcons In-Flight

Spent Saturday with a good friend looking for and photographing prairie falcons southwest of Calgary, Alberta. In total we found two adult males, and one adult female prairie falcon and started taking pictures of these awesome falcons in flight.
Not easy tracking these birds of prey as they are moving very fast, trying to track [...]

Young Red Foxes (kits, puppies)

A tip from a fellow photog about a nearby fox den sent me flying down the road, and hopefully a chance photograph them. I saw three of the little kit red foxes this time, but here there are more, possible even seven of the little pups.

Fledgling Great Horned Owlet Drying Off

More of photos the great horned owl baby, this time I found the owlet drying off from a freak June snow, hail & rain storm that passed through last weekend.

Baby Great Horned Owl (Owlet - Fledgling)

t photographed this baby owl on May 24th, the owlet is the great horned variety and this little fledgling owl gave me quite a show hamming it up on an old log. What a treat it was getting full sensor/framed shots of this owlet at eye level.

Eastern Kingbird Out West

These in-flight photos of the eastern kingbird are from May 23rd, we watched and photographed the kingbird catching bugs over a local pond. It was great to see these birds back from their winter migration. A few photos from that photo session are below.

In Flight Drake Wood Ducks

I know what you are thinking, more wood ducks and again with the flying wood ducks! I can’t help myself, I did it again and have a bunch of wood duck photos, but still not quite enough!

Birds & Beasts

No, that beast on the left looking over the branches is not a samsquanch, a.k.a. bigfoot or sasquatch, it is the tree eating porcupine, in this case a very cute baby porcupine!

Alberta Sharp-Tailed Grouse Lek Dance

Watching and photographing the sharp-tailed grouse on Monday morning strut there stuff on the lek is something you have to see to appreciate and thats what I did for the second time today. I was invited by a good friend and fellow photographer Mark Williams to watch the sharp-tailed grouse do there thing on the prairie lek.

Swainson’s Hawk’s Return

The Swainson’s hawk’s are back from migration and can be seen not only in the prairies but also within the city limits of Calgary Alberta. The last few days have been exciting for me as I love to find and photograph raptors! Over the last few days I have photographed all kinds of birds of prey.

Solitary Sandpiper - Shorebirds

nteresting little shorebird, I photographed this Solitary Sandpiper while it was wading the banks of a pond in Calgary. These birds are small, about 7 inches including the long beak and can be seen cruising the shores of lakes, rivers and ponds looking for food.

Coyote Up Close Encounter

I noticed a shadow off the path right beside me, there looking at me was this adult male coyote no more than ten feet away. The coyote was on a lower elevation than I was so I kept walking, maybe another ten feet or so until I was out of site. I then stopped, turned and crouched waiting for him to return, and return he did!

American Avocet

From a quick outing today I photographed this American Avocet looking for lunch along the shoreline of a slough. Good to see the shore birds back from migration, but I am sure this American Avocet is looking at the ice wishing he/she waited another week or two.

Canada Goose Portrait

On the left, a close up portrait photo of a male Canadian Goose, the blue background is water in very low light. Right now his mate is on eggs trying to keep them warm, not an easy task after last nights dump of snow.

Hooded Merganser In-Flight

Another evening with crappy light, total cloud cover but I went out (again) anyway but this time I got lucky, was at the right location at the right time when a male hooded merganser decided to take flight!

Female Coyote Run

rprised female coyote ran out in front of me tonight on my way into one of my favorite haunts. The light was crap for fast moving beasties, total cloud cover = high ISO, but I did grab a few photos of this good looking urban Calgary coyote.

Western Meadowlark

I photographed this western meadowlark a few weeks ago on April 4/09 when we still had lots of snow on the ground. The meadowlarks bright yellow chest is a welcome sight this time of year when everything else is dressed in dulls winter browns.

Male & Female Goldeneye Ducks

Lots of these goldeneye ducks around this spring and right now they are partnering up. Here are few very recent photos of both the male and female goldeneye in flight.

Spring Time Canada Geese

The difference between the spring Canada geese and the more relaxed summer Canada geese is large. These spring time geese are very territorial and protective of there mate and there staked property.

Wood Ducks In-Flight

Was lucky to capture a few male wood ducks flying this morning, always fun photographing birds in-flight, especially wood ducks! Here are a few from the wood ducks in flight series, or from this morning duck shoot. I captured about 25 sharp pictures of these guys this morning and some good close-ups.

Male & Female Wood Ducks Photographed

They don’t look real, the colours of a male wood duck is nothing short of amazing and this wood duck almost looks sculpted it so beautiful. Spring birds are starting to arrive in numbers from there winter migration here in Calgary, Alberta, including this pair or wood ducks I photographed tonight.

Bohemian Waxwing Eating Berries

Lucky me, what a treat, eye level bohemian waxwings posing for my camera eating red berries and in total I have around 80 photographs from this session! These are stunning birds, the colours are unreal and right now they are just passing through Calgary on there way to there boreal forests nesting grounds.

Mountain Bluebird at Fish Creek Provincial Park

I was stumped on the I.D., I knew it was a bluebird I photographing but what species of bluebird, a Mountain Bluebird or a Western Bluebird? It turns this little bluebird is a first year male Mountain Bluebird, thanks Gus for straightening that out for me and a few other photogs!

Winter Deer Photographed

Since winter is officially over (hard to tell with all the snow on the ground), it is spring here in Alberta right? I decided to post a few of the deer I photographed over the past winter including a few good size bucks. I have about 150+ images of deer from this winter, here are just a few.

Red-Shafted Flicker

These male northern red-shafted flickers have been busy trying to impress the females and I caught two males jousting in the snow. Either a territorial thing, or some kind of spring mating ritual, not real sure.

Crusty Tail The Coyote

Just about to head home and we saw two coyotes, it was getting dark and the sun was going down but we decided to try and get a little closer. As we approached the coyotes started to yip and call, two turned into three. As we turned the corner and all three spotted Ken Bell and I started shooting!

Light Morph/Phase Rough-legged Hawk Flight

We spotted 4 or 5 rough-legged hawks today, the in-flight hawk pictured on the left was a light morph (or light phase) rough legged hawk. With cameras in hand fellow photog David Lilly & I scouted around south west of Calgary looking for anything interesting and hoping to see an early mountain blue bird. Still a little early for blue birds, but we found a few rough legged hawks including a light (pictured) and dark morph bird as well as few others hunting a stretch of dirt road south west of Calgary.

Bald Eagle Trying To Catch A Duck Dinner

I watched and photographed an immature bald eagle make a VERY lame attempt to catch a goldeneye duck on some open water on the bow river late this afternoon. These pictures are heavily cropped as the action was a long way off but I though I should post them anyway.

Pond Life - Beavers, Ducks & Canada Geese

A quick visit to a nearby pond was worth it as I had lots of time to photograph this beaver munching on some assorted branches. He didn’t mind me watching him at all, the evening light was perfect but it was still cold outside.

Goldeneye Ducks, Deer & Spring Beavers.

Only a few days ago it was -20c, the next day +10c and again today was well above freezing, spring is in the air! What a beautiful day to be out, and I was out this afternoon soaking up the sun and photographing some of the wildlife.

Cold Mallard Ducks - Inglewood Bird Sanctuary

I made a quick visit to Inglewood Bird Sanctuary in Calgary Alberta this afternoon, It felt cold, and it was at -20 c with the wind, and the wind showed up. The male mallard duck photographed on the left was just coming in for a landing on the main ponds small patch of open water, and looked like he might need a little de-icing. His bill noticeably had ice forming on it along with his head and chest area…

Birds In-Flight Action Photography Tips

I love action photography and birds in-flight are one of my favorite forms of this, especially birds of prey (hawks, eagles, owls & falcons).
Seconds count in this type of fast action photography, grab the moment if you can, and you can if you practice…

Great Horned Owl Photographed

You don’t have to go far to find wildlife in this city, this great horned owl was photographed within the city limits of Calgary, not bad eh? Not only did this owl sit for few seconds for a photo, myself and friend Bayar saw plenty of deer, three coyotes and lots of ducks! Hope you all are not sick of owl photos (if thats possible!) as I seem to keep finding them lately.

Hawk Owl Portrait

These are full frame photos of the northern hawk owl, to the left shows the hawk owl sitting on a fence post in a snow storm, photo taken last week.

Hawk Owl Action Photos

A few action shots of an in-flight hawk owl hunting over farm fields in Alberta, the hawk owl here is photographed moving fast along a fence line on his way to dinner.

Bucks & Ducks in Morning Light

Perfect morning for photography in Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, clear skies and a few good looks at a large buck deer. In this kind of light you just have to photograph EVERYTHING including a few ducks spotted on the main pond.

Northern Hawk Owls Alberta

I say owls, because I was lucky to spot two northern hawks within 100 yards of each other thanks to a tip on its location from a friend.
To watch this fast flying hawk owl hunting was a thrill and only 40 min. from downtown Calgary made it even better
The portrait of the owl on the left shows close-up what these owls look like. I lucked out and also got a few flight shots..

Eagles & Coyotes Hunting Geese

I headed down to the Bow river here in Calgary in hopes of photographing the many bald eagles that cruise the open water for ducks this time of year. The ducks are are plentiful in the small patches of open water, 100’s, if not 1000’s can be seen in these patches of open river. Within [...]

White-breasted Nuthatch

But this curious white-breasted nuthatch posed for me for a few split seconds. I got the close-up, his good side and bad side of this nervous little bird.

Alberta’s Great Gray Owls

Yes, more photos of the wild great gray owls that roam the forests of Alberta Canada! These are not fresh photos, but are a few weeks old from other owl outings, some posted here on the site.
A friend of mine, and fellow photog David Lilly went looking for the owls again today, second time in a row and we got skunked, again! Nothing, not even a glimpse of the gray ghost. Oh well, better luck next time.

Northern Hawk Owl In-Flight

I photographed this Northern Hawk Owl in-flight last winter and met a few new friends while at it, in fact, they pointed me in the right direction for this northern hawk owl. Here is a sequence of photos of the owl hunting and capturing his dinner, in this case a mouse!

Great Horned Owl

I saw a total of three great horned owls the other day, here is a photo of one found along the banks of the Bow River in Calgary. I also viewed plenty of eagles roosting in trees, at one point there must have been 20 or so in one tree, but too far off for a photo.

Great Gray Owls, Alberta

Finally, I got a chance to see and photograph the great gray owl! Today I went looking for the great gray and found two of these owls hunting along a fence line north west of Calgary, what a thrill!.

Snowy Owl Alberta

Reports of snowy owls was enough for me to take the drive, we found 8 snowy owls there. Not the best day for photography as it was dark, overcast with light snow, but to watch these snowy owls made my day.

Calgary Zoo

A visit to the Calgary Zoo on Saturday, camera in hand I decided to take a few photos. This was my second visit to the Calgary Zoo and I was delighted to see this Tigers up and roaming around. Not easy taking pictures through the wire fence, but I did get a couple clean shots.

Wood Ducks In-Flight

Late September wood ducks photographed in flight in evening light, the fall colours are in full swing now making the backgrounds rich and full of colour!

Swainson’s Hawks In Flight Alberta

The Alberta Swainson’s Hawks will start there migration soon, but last week I photographed an adult Swainson’s hawk in-flight hunting the prairie for anything that moved! I did notice one Swainson’s hawk dive at what looked like a quail. The hawk dropped out of the sky like a rock, but the prey was too fast and flew off.

Sunday Macro Photography

Headed out this morning for some macro photography fun using the 300mm Nikkor, extension tubs, tripod, an old Sigma 105mm f/2.8 macro lens and my old D1H body.

Alberta’s Kananaskis Valley Coyote

Another trip through Alberta’s Kananaskis Valley today, this time we took the dirt road from Canmore all the way down hwy 40. Around every corner was another amazing vista, I just cant get enough of the Kananaskis Valley!

Female Goldeneye Duck

A very calm female goldeneye duck did not seem to be bothered by my presence at all and let me get in close for a photograph.
The evening light was just right!

Dragonflies & Damselflies Macro

A few recent photos of dragonflies and damselflies, most photographed with the Nikon 300mm AFS f/4 lens handheld. I took over 200 mosquito bites taking these pictures, I hope you like them!

Red Fox

After hearing the news of the red fox & young, my 6 year old daughter and I went out after dinner in hopes of spotting her. I thought the den was in the gardens so we wandered around the north edge, eyes peeled! With or without a fox we had a great time, but after about 20min. we had a bonus!

Calgary Coyotes

Right next door to our site in the southern end of Calgary are these two Coyotes. Both the male and female coyotes are seen almost daily, the male is photographed below.