Jan282008
Backyard wildlife gallery
Filed under General by telegraph photo staff at 12:50 pm
Some photographers spend thousand of dollars traveling far and wide,
hiding behind blinds for days, to get a photo of wildlife for their
collection. Not me!
Yes I will admit I have traveled to the local dump to photograph a bear,
locked up my brakes on a mountain highway in British Columbia to click
frames of a huge elk, and squeezed by telephoto lens through a cage to
capture a moment with a bald eagle. I’ve even hand-fed a mountain goat
pretzels while photographing him with a wide angle lens in the Canadian
Rockies. But some of the best wildlife photography is right in my own
back yard.
While eating breakfast and looking out my dining room window at the bird
feeders, my son noticed this owl perched on branches about 10 feet above
the feeders, and the same distance from our house. What was amazing to
us was how still it stood ALL MORNING! Only its head rotated back and
forth in search of breakfast. An hour or so later, a mouse appeared from
the snow bank below, oblivious to the predator above. The owl swooped
down quickly, snatched the rodent, and headed off to another tree to
feast.
Luckily my 300mm lens was inside the house and ready on a moment’s
notice. While my family watched out the window, I sat on the floor and
fired frame after frame of the owl until my battery died. I have plenty
of good ones to choose from, switching to a smaller 70-200 zoom lens to
show the branches twisted around him as camouflage. This shot is nearly
full frame!
I’ve also photographed deer, gray fox, a pheasant, and humming birds
from my back yard.
- Bob Hammerstrom, staff photographer
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