An owl hunting deep in the forest
My pup and I found this great gray owl perched in a small clearing. He was watching us when I noticed him on this fallen tree root. A short stare and he returned to scanning the ground.
At one point a raven flew over the treetops, the owl followed it pass by and then returned to watching the forest floor.
After close to 15 minutes, this spot lost whatever interest it had held and he flew deeper into the forest.
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Moose on the Prairies
Driving the gravel roads that divide up the fields north of Calgary, I found this moose in the tall grass near the end of August this past summer. She was alone and seemed relaxed laying down under the late afternoon heat. I stayed for a minute, the peaceful scene one to enjoy before retreating to leave her as she was.
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Osprey in the trees
We were in Invermere last weekend. I spent some time watching a family of osprey on the water. This adult perched in this tree and made a couple of passes over a pond but no dives for fish. They looked pretty fantastic in the evening sunshine so I wasn’t too disappointed.
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Watching us, watching you
There are good moments. Watching this cinnamon bear in the Sheep River Provincial Park with my family was one of them.
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A night fox in motion
I found this red fox hunting in a field recently. It was well into dusk but she had no trouble maneuvering through the grass. Photographing her in motion was much more of a challenge. In this image, I dragged the shutter to 1/6th of a second and tried to capture that energy. She reminded me of my daughter, her spirit and her intelligence – as every fox that I see does.
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Swallow vertically
A tree swallow on barbed wire south of Cochrane.
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Bald eagle in a tangle of branches
Whitehorse is home to bald eagles among many other birds – large and otherwise. We found them on several occasions during our visit there last summer. This one landed in these twisted branches and I was able to play with her framed by them.
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A red fox backlit in Bragg Creek
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Happy holidays!
I hope you are enjoying time doing what you enjoy with those you love. We had an energetic start to the day with a dog’s temporary escape to visit the neighborhood, cleaning up from Santa’s whirlwind visit and enjoying the general madness. That’s given way to a relaxed afternoon with a gentle snowfall helping to set a calmer tone.
This white-winged crossbill was one of a mixed flock of finches, chickadees and nuthatches that I found hunting for seeds in a stretch of forest west of Bragg Creek yesterday. It was another energetic group and, looking back, seemed to be a little foreshadowing for this morning’s chaos. Looking forward, their community, cooperation and tolerance are some positive things to bring forward.
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A surprising beauty
There is a book project that I’ve been invited to contribute some images for which saw me working through images from the Khutzeymateen and her wonderful grizzly bears this weekend. Towards the end of the 2014 set, I found this one of a pigeon that had landed outside of the day room I rented between docking in Prince Rupert and flying out later that afternoon. I had long forgotten about this image but I was struck by the beauty of this bird on today’s perusal. Pigeon’s can be somewhat funny looking but I find this one to be rather charismatic. The iridescence in the neck feathers grabs my attention first, but the pattern in the wing feathers holds it.
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Chickadees in late afternoon sunshine
Through the winter, there are chickadees that hang out in my backyard. On Sunday afternoon, I found a few of them pecking seeds out of the fresh snow below the feeder.
I took a few minutes to photograph them when the sun had dropped low enough to backlight them and the speckles of snow their pecking threw into the air.
A boreal chickadee came at the last and flitted about for a few seconds before flying off in a spray of glistening snow.
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Loons on the lake in Banff National Park
I found a pair of common loons on the third Vermilion Lake in the Banff National Park on the weekend. They were diving and skimming the water surface for food, enjoying the sunshine and paddling close to each other at different points.
The sunlight caught the iridescence in their feathers. It is beautiful when the red eyes glow and the silky greens shimmer along their necks.
Christopher Martin Photography 