Arctic Hare [Churchill, Manitoba, Canada]

Talk about a cooperative subject! This Arctic Hare (my first ever!) was browsing willows on the tundra near Hudson Bay. She’d eat a while, then sit and rest and look about. I like this wider shot as it shows a bit of habitat and I love the translucent orange eyeball that contrasts nicely with the vegetation. The hare’s curly pelage also blends with the curvy stems of the foreground flora.

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-f5.6L IS II USM lens at 371mm; 1/500 sec at f5.6; ISO 320; +0.66 ev; hand-held]

Beaver [Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota]

Beaver are rarely seen out and about in winter, but this guy must have run out of food and had to risk coming out of the safety of the lodge to eat. I took video of him plowing through the snow to get fresh willows. Because I shot few stills, this is actually a single frame extracted from a video clip, and that is why the shutter speed is a very slow 1/60 second. Fortunately the Beaver was still for a split second and the photo is sharp.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens with Metabones adapter; 1/60 sec. at f14; ISO 200; tripod]

Grizzly cub [Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming]

Kids will be kids! “Coming through Mom!”

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens; Metabones adapter; 1/800 sec. at f5.6; ISO 200; tripod]

Yellow-bellied Marmot [Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming]

I just like the blue and green background…and its a nice photo of a marmot.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens; Metabones adapter; 1/500 sec. at f5.6; ISO 200; tripod]

Grizzly cub [Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming]

What can I say? CUTE! Like a cuddly 200 pound teddy bear.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens; Metabones adapter; 1/800 sec. at f5.6; ISO 200; tripod]

Cottontail [Carlton County, Minnesota]

This photo was taken about as close to home as possible…Only about 20 feet from my front door! I laid down on the gravel of our driveway and slowly crawled closer. Always good to get eye level to your subject. Just a cute critter.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens with Metabones adapter; 1/1250 sec. at f5.6; ISO 500; hand-held]

Harbor Seal [Churchill, Manitoba, Canada]

Every photographer hopes his mammalian subject will yawn. Yawning in a still image can look like a ferocious growl. Not sure what this Harbor Seal was doing but the open pink mouth contrasts nicely with the blue water of Hudson Bay.

[Canon 7D with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens; 1/2500 sec. at f5.6; ISO 320; tripod]

Moose [Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota]

This photo was taken on the last day of February but I believe it is the same young cow Moose that I found a couple miles away in early November. She was a very tolerant critter…especially for a Moose! Several of us were able to shoot quite close to her as she browsed willows. She would mostly ignore us, but occasionally steal a glance to make sure we didn’t get too close. I like how the shaded woods turned a pleasing purple and the red willows were beginning to pop.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens with Metabones adapter; 1/500 sec. at f5.6; ISO 500; -0.33 ev; tripod]

Pine Marten [Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota]

Marten are cute as a button, but also ferocious hunters. They are able to hunt down Red Squirrels in the trees! Clinton Nienhaus and I were watching a roadside bird feeding station when this guy came from the bog and started feasting on peanut butter left out for the Boreal Chickadees. He paused to lick his lips. Hey buddy, you missed a spot!

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens with Metabones adapter; 1/800 sec. at f7.1; ISO 200; hand-held]

White-tailed Deer bucks [Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota]

I was on my way home from doing some work on our Welcome Center in Sax-Zim Bog when I spotted these two bucks browsing in a hayfield along the road. Unlike most bucks, they did not bolt the minute I slowed the car. In fact, they came closer and closer even after I got out of the car! Maybe it was the many deer flies that made them crazy that day.

[Canon 7D with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens; 1/1600 sec. at f5.6; ISO 320; -0.33 ev; hand-held]

Grizzly and cub  [Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming]

Ryan and I had a chance this spring to spend much time with a sow Grizzly and her yearling cub. They played and dug grubs and roots, and the cub would even nurse, all the time, ignoring the photographers. I like the eye-level perspective and the fact that they seem to be gazing at the same thing.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens; Metabones adapter; 1/1600 sec. at f5.6; ISO 640; tripod]

Arctic Hare  [Churchill, Manitoba, Canada]

How can you not love a face like this? Like in the other Arctic Hare photo in this post, I love the translucent orange eyes and the oversized black and white ears. He seems to be eyeing me up…wondering if I’m a threat or just a harmless crawling photographer.

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-f5.6L IS II USM lens at 321mm; 1/320 sec at f5.6; ISO 320; +0.66 ev; hand-held]

No…Not a Bison cow with triplets…Just two playful “red dog” calves coming over to play with her nursing calf. The Bison were just dropping their calves in late April.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens (Metabones adapter); 1/160 at f5.6; ISO 100; tripod]

Snow greeted us as we pulled in to the Mammoth Campground in Yellowstone after driving all night from Duluth. But as we waited for someone to vacate the campground so we could pick a spot, this male Mountain Bluebird entertained us by foraging near the gate.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens (Metabones adapter); 1/320 at f6.3; ISO 100; handheld]

Mountain Bluebird male

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens (Metabones adapter); 1/800 at f5.6; ISO 100; handheld]

Yellow-bellied Marmot surveys his “kingdom” in Yellowstone.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens (Metabones adapter); 1/250 at f5.6; ISO 100; tripod]

Yellow-bellied Marmot. I like how the shade of the mountain slope in the background becomes a beautiful blue blur.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens (Metabones adapter); 1/500 at f5.6; ISO 200; tripod]

Elk pair; His breath visible in the cool morning air.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens (Metabones adapter); 1/640 at f5.6; ISO 320; handheld]

We were bummed that the road that leads to LeHardy Rapids was still snowed in. This is the traditional hotspot for Harlequin Ducks. But fortunately we spotted this colorful pair along the Madison River.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens (Metabones adapter); 1/400 at f7.1; ISO 800; tripod]

Harlequin Duck male spreads his tail feathers after preening. Yellowstone is the southernmost breeding site for this species in all of North America! The main part of their breeding range includes British Columbia, Alaska, Yukon and Labrador. They prefer to nest along fast-flowing mountain rivers.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens (Metabones adapter); 1/250 at f6.3; ISO 400; tripod]

Harlequin Duck male

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens (Metabones adapter); 1/100 at f6.3; ISO 100; tripod]

Harlequin’s love fast water…the more turbulent the better! They dive underwater in rapids to feed.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens (Metabones adapter); 1/500 at f5.6; ISO 200; tripod]

Bison herd along the Madison River.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens at 18mm; (Metabones adapter); 1/400 at f6.3; ISO 160; tripod]

Beaver having a late afternoon snack.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens (Metabones adapter); 1/200 at f7.1; ISO 1600; handheld]

Sow Black Bear and one of her two tiny cubs. I got some nice video of this trio, which I will include in a future post.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens (Metabones adapter); 1/320 at f8; ISO 400; tripod]

Bison and her “red dog” calf.

We ran across a band of Bighorn ewes near Yellowstone Picnic area.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens (Metabones adapter); 1/400 at f5.6; ISO 100; tripod]

A trio of Black-billed Magpies wait out a snow squall near Mammoth.

[Sony A6500 with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens (Metabones adapter); 1/60 at f13; ISO 100; braced on car window]