21 Favourite New Wildlife Photos from 2021

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Red fox in Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan.
Red fox, Saskatchewan
Red fox in Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan.

2021 was another strange year, with the pandemic continuing to have a big impact on our travels. Consequently, most of our travel and photography this year was fairly close to home. Fortunately, we have a lot of cool critters practically in our backyard so we were fortunate to come away with some interesting shots. Here are 21 of our favourites.

Red fox, winter photography
Red fox in Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan. Winter is a great time to photograph foxes. This is when they look their best with lustrous fur coats, plus they stand out from the snowy background.
Red fox, Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan, winter
Red fox in Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan.
Pileated woodpecker, Saskatchewan
Another highlight of our winter trip to Prince Albert National Park was finally getting a photo of a pileated woodpecker – North America’s largest woodpecker. This bird had eluded us, but we found one that not only cooperated but that also had the good manners to pose in nice light.
Beaver, Saskatchewan
Lunch time. Beaver eating pond vegetation. Thickwood Hills, Saskatchewan.
Hoary Marmot, Banff National Park, Alberta.
Hoary marmot, Banff National Park, Alberta
Great blue heron, Big Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.
Great blue heron, Big Quill Lake, Saskatchewan. These birds aren’t always easy to photograph in our area, but one magical evening we found several close to the road on Big Quill Lake.
Great blue heron, Big Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.
Great blue heron, Big Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.
Great blue heron, Big Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.
Great blue heron, Big Quill Lake, Saskatchewan.
Bull elk, Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan
Bull elk, Prince Albert National Park. It was mid-summer when much of the wildlife lays low, but all of a sudden this guy shows up.
Ring-necked duck, Saskatchewan
Ring-necked duck, Thickwood Hills, Saskatchewan.
Male ruby-throated hummingbird, Saskatchewan
Male ruby-throated hummingbird, Thickwood Hills, Saskatchewan. We’re fortunate to have these marvelous birds nesting in our farmyard.
Female ruby-throated hummingbird, Thickwood Hills, Saskatchewan.
Female ruby-throated hummingbird ruffling its feathers. Thickwood Hills, Saskatchewan.
Purple finch, Thickwood Hills, Saskatchewan.
Male purple finch, Thickwood Hills, Saskatchewan.
Chipping sparrow, Saskatchewan
Chipping sparrow, Thickwood Hills, Saskatchewan. We have a lot of these sparrows nesting on our yard, but it isn’t always easy to get them posing in nice light.
Moose in a harvested canola field near Whitkow, Saskatchewan.
Moose in a harvested canola field near Whitkow, Saskatchewan.
Pronghorn, Saskatchewan
Pronghorn near Struan, Saskatchewan, not far from Saskatoon. More at home in the southern grasslands, it is not usual to see pronghorn this far north.
Migrating snow geese, Saskatchewan
Migrating snow geese near Foam Lake, Saskatchewan. This year we wanted to try something different with migrating geese. Instead of stopping the action with a fast shutter speed, for this photo and the next one we opted for a slow shutter speed (1/13 sec.) to try to show some of the movement.
Migrating snow geese near Foam Lake, Saskatchewan.
Migrating snow geese near Foam Lake, Saskatchewan.
Cranes flying in front of sun, Foam Lake, Saskatchewan
This shot wasn’t planned. We were at Foam Lake in the fall to photograph migrating snow geese and sandhill cranes. In the morning we were disappointed to see that smoke from forest fires had drifted in. However, the smoke turned the rising sun an eerie reddish colour and a flock of sandhill cranes flew across the sun just as it emerged from the smoke bank.
Lightning, Tyrrell Lake, Saskatchewan
This is our favourite wildlife shot of the year, even though the bird is extremely small in the frame. We were camped at Tyrrell Lake in northeastern Saskatchewan when thunderstorms moved across the lake. While we were photographing the lightning, a raven flew across the shore of the lake just as a bolt of lightning struck, making it look as if the bird was flying into the storm.

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21 Wildlife Photos from 2021

4 thoughts on “21 Favourite New Wildlife Photos from 2021”

  2. Thanks again for the amazing photographs. Really liked them all. but definitely drawn in by the shot of lightning and the sunrise. Jean

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