Birds Photography

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.

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 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!

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.

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 [...]

Birds Of Prey, Nature & Wildlife Photography by Mark Williams

A good friend of mine and fellow photog Mark Williams has finally put together a web site showcasing Birds of prey, nature and wildlife photography.

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.

Tree Swallows In-Flight

A few photos of tree swallows in-flight on a clear day in May. Digging through some older photos and found these tree swallows in-flight taken back in May.

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 [...]

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.

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.

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.

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!

Birds In-Flight Photography Workshops Calgary Lessons

In this Calgary photography workshop learn what it takes to photograph birds in flight, things you never thought of, tips, tricks and my personal tactics for fast moving objets that WILL make you a better photographer in capturing avian in-flight photos.

Bohemian Waxwings In-Flight Photos

Our jaws dropped as we watched 100’s if not a 1000 or more bohemian waxwings gather in a small wood lot in the south end of Calgary’s Fish Creek Park last Saturday March the 20th.
At first we thought these birds to be cedar waxwings, but a closer look proved them to be bohemian’s!

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.

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.

Photographing Small Birds

Good light and bad light, nope, its all good! Overcast days give you even light, nothing blown out and everything even and moody. This type of light means slower shutter speeds so the percentage of catching a fast moving small bird like the chickadee crisp and sharp goes down, its still worth getting out there and photographing them, not only for fun but for practice!

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.

Black-Capped Chickadee

I asked myself before taking this shot, how many times have I photographed a Black-Capped Chickadee? The answer, too many times, or just the right amount? I don’t need another photo of a Black-Capped Chickadee, really I don’t, but then again I liked this photo from today and am glad I took it.

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!

Inglewood Bald Eagles

I dropped by Inglewood Bird Sanctuary and noticed on the main pond there are 100’s of ducks, I also noticed that something has been eating them! On the ice over the pond are a few explosions of duck feathers! Now it could be coyotes, ravens or magpies eating the ducks, or maybe eagles.

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.

Another Great Horned Owl

This great horned owl was photographed last Sunday just south of Calgary Alberta. I was actually looking for rough-legged hawks and came across this owl hiding in a tree.

Scary Halloween Owl

Just for fun, here is one scary looking halloween owl picture, actually it is a great horned owl photographed in Calgary, Alberta!

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.

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!

Cedar Waxwings

I cant help myself, every time I see a cedar waxing, I have to photograph it! Here are few recent photos from Calgary Alberta. Handheld, Nikon 300mm f/4 AFS and my old D1H.

Great Horned Owls, Calgary Alberta

This is my fourth pair of great horned owls in less than three months, always fun to find and always difficult to photograph. These owls are always hiding in thick cover.

Yellow-headed Blackbirds

My second encounter with Alberta’s Yellow-headed Blackbirds. What a gourgous bird, and one I had never photographed before. These blackbirds and their amazingly bright yellow heads are new to me as they are not found in southern Ontario, so it was a real treat to see them here in Alberta.

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