SNOWSHOE HARES

I had a great deal of fun during the winter of 2013-14 photographing Snowshoe Hares, and watching them change color as Spring arrived. I think you'll enjoy these exceptionally cute bunnies!

SHOREBIRDS

Shorebirds aren't just for those folks who live near the ocean. Over time, I've photographed many species along the shores of Lake Superior and on the wetlands and waterways of my home state of Minnesota, nearby Wisconsin, and the potholes of the prairie. Enjoy!

WARBLERS

These beautiful little birds are as difficult to photograph as they are lovely to look at. Fast moving, tiny, and frequently in thick cover, getting these warbler images for you to enjoy was fun but challenging!

PERCHING BIRDS

Few things enrich our lives more than the grace and beauty of birds. Here's a gallery of "perching birds" -- wrens, finches, warblers, woodpeckers and the like. I hope this gallery brings you some of the same joy these marvelous creatures bring to our every day lives!
 

RAPTORS: Hawks, Falcons, Harriers, Eagles, and Osprey

With all the time I've spent hanging around at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth (a great place, by the way, for viewing the raptor migration September through November), and roaming around Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota, I've gathered a lot of hawk, falcon, osprey and eagle photos. I hope you enjoy them!
 

I've been in love with waterfowl since I was a child, and they are a favorite subject for my photography.

Now all my waterfowl images can be seen in the following gallery, with sub-galleries for each species or group. I hope you enjoy them!

BLACK BEARS

I'm lucky to live in a place with many thousands of free roaming black bears. Here's a gallery of some of the bears I've met!

UPLAND GAME BIRDS

My gallery of ruffed grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, pheasants and turkeys.

LOONS

Here's a selection of some of my personal favorite Common Loon images.

Whitetails Through The Seasons

I've been photographing white-tailed deer for years. All all of these photos are of wild deer in unfenced woodlands. None are of captive animals. Here's a gallery of these remarkable animals in winter, spring, summer and fall. Enjoy! 

LABRADORS AT WORK!

Here's a gallery of my hunting dogs, both black Labrador retrievers. Wigeon (with the blockier head) is gone now, but she lives on in many of these images. Bella, my current dog, is the star of the rest. Enjoy!

FOXES!

Here's a new collection of recent photos of both Gray and Red foxes taken near my home in Duluth. Enjoy!
 

Camera, Lens & Computer Program Reviews!

Photography Tips!

Want to learn more about digital photography, digital editing, what equipment or computer programs work and don't work? Confused about PPI, DPI, Resolution and the rest?

Then Click HERE for my Digital Photography News and Views section.  

there are no images of captive animals (other than of my dog!) on this website, or photos of owls taken with the use of bait or lures.

NONE of the wild animals or birds you'll see in my galleries are "rental" animals. A great many "wildlife" photographers make a career out of shooting tame critters at impoundments that cater to these photographers. Some of these places will even haul animals hundreds of miles and set up staged shots. And NONE of the raptor images, including those of owls, were taken with the use of bait or lures.

Wildlife photography, in my opinion, besides producing beautiful images, serves vital purposes. It portrays animals in their natural setting performing natural behaviors, which educates the public. And by extension, showing these creatures in the places they live doing the things they naturally do, real wildlife photography encourages conservation of the habitats in which they thrive.

There is no guarantee that rental animals are behaving in a natural manner, even when placed in a natural setting. While a stunning photo of a rent-a-wolf or some other animal may encourage the viewer to support conservation, there is also the risk that by making these photos so common (there are literally tens of thousands of images out there of wolves, mountain lions, and other animals whose habitat has shrunk) people may assume that because the images are numerous, the animals and their habitats are numerous and secure. Nothing is further from the truth.

Unfortunately, in addition to rental animals, a great many photographers use live mice, frozen mice, or toy mice to lure owls to the camera. It is an effective tool, but it also draws owls to roadsides, where they may be injured or killed, teaches them to associate humans with food, and risks introducing parasites and diseases to the owls, carried by the pet shop mice. Owls, especially northern owls like the Snowy, Great Gray, and Hawk owl, are helpless in the face of a dangling mouse. They virtually can not refuse it. Unlike feeding birds in your backyard, where they come and go as they wish, and scatter at the slightest danger or movement by you, owls will fly directly to people, ignoring their most important instinct -- that of survival. If you see a great photo of an owl, especially one "hunting" or flying at the camera, ask the photographer if it was staged before you make a purchase. If he or she won't tell you, then you know the answer anyway, because while these lazy photographers avidly defend this practice, rarely do they "come clean" and admit to the public that they manipulate birds solely for the image.

If you are about to purchase a photo for your wall, or for your magazine, you owe it to yourself to find out if the animal was captive and the scene staged. I believe the portrayal of captive animals as wild animals is no different than passing off a work of fiction as non-fiction.