With its razor sharp talons firmly grasped around the flimsy top of a sapling, a great grey owl intensely scans and listens for any unsuspecting prey.
Category: Canada
A round trip migration of over 12000 km, a heart rate of 1200 beats/minute, a wing beat rate of 3000-3700 beats/minute, having to go into torpor every evening to survive the long cold nights. Hummingbirds are about as close to mythical that exists in the bird world. I have held them in my hands, felt the vibrations of their little hearts beating and marveled at how something so small and fragile can survive, but it’s still hard to believe they can eek out a living in the harsh environment of the Canadian Rockies. Until this year I had never seen an active nest in the wild. So to say I was ecstatic when, with a bit of help, I came across this one would be a bit of an understatement!
Hummingbird nests, which in themselves are works of art, are constructed with the soft silk of spider webs! Imagine how many spider webs are needed to make a nest like this? It was placed on a thin drooping branch that wouldn’t support the weight of any potential predators (crows, squirrels, martens, etc.). It was woven around the branches and then lichen and moss were attached to the outside to provide camouflage. As is typical, 2 eggs the size of small jellybeans were laid and incubated for just over 2 weeks. The chicks grow at an exponential rate and within 19 days they fledge, fly off with mom and never return to the nest again.
When I came across this one, the chicks were already about 1.5 weeks old and had tiny pin feathers. Contrary to what many believe, hummingbirds don’t rely on nectar to feed their young. The rapidly growing chicks need a high protein diet so they are almost exclusively fed insects. This is why in early summer if you have a hummingbird feeder you won’t see females at it. They return to the feeders later in the summer with their fully grown offspring to teach the young about the best feeding spots. This lasts all but a few days at which point the offspring are self-sufficient.
Watching a hummingbird can be dizzying, not to mention painful from all of the mosquito bites, and while I wish I could say I planned to get this photo, simply put, I didn’t nor could I have imagined it possible given the conditions! The light was low, the nest was well hidden, multiple small branches were getting in the way and as you know these birds do everything at warp speed. I knew the only way I was ever going to have a chance at being successful was if the sun’s rays found a break in the trees to penetrate into the forest and if I set my camera up on a tripod and manually focused on the nest. With the settings locked in I stepped back from the camera with my remote in hand to take in the action from a distance so I didn’t disturb them. After a few minutes the sun was low enough to get through the dense canopy and light up the area around the nest. Now all I needed was for the mom to come back and feed her babies.
Luck was on my side. She flew in and started plunging food down the throats of her chicks. After feeding them she would usually zoom off into the surrounding meadows to catch more food, but this time she did something different. She flew up from the nest but remained hovering right next to it in the beautiful soft light of the sun! I was too far away to see what she was looking at so instead I clicked the remote as fast as possible hoping I would get one good photo of her in flight. The whole sequence lasted less than two seconds but I managed to snap off a few frames that were in focus. It wasn’t until afterwards when I zoomed in on the images that I saw what she was so intent on. Under the watchful eyes of her chicks she had spotted and caught a spider! If you look at this photo closely you can see one of the legs of the unsuspecting spider in her beak just before she clamped down on it! The spider tried to get away by hiding behind the branch but it was no match for the hummingbird and was quickly snapped up and eaten!
While I have other images of the mom and her chicks, none tells the story of the life of this hummingbird family as well as this one! The background and shadows are a bit distracting but this photo is still to date my favourite photo of the year. I hope you like it as much as I do!
Imagine having to eating 2-3 times your body weight in food every day just to survive! That if you have a bad day of not finding enough food you are going to starve to death! Hummingbirds push the limits and live their lives on the edge. No wonder people rarely see them doing anything but eating.
Their incredibly high metabolic rate means that the only way they can survive the long nights without eating is to go into a form of hibernation, called torpor. Every night they lower their body temperature to prevent wasting energy trying to keep their internal temperature at around 38 degrees Celsius. Their heart rate slows to as low as 50 beats per minute (from over 800-1200) and respiratory rates are not detectable. Simply put they appear to be dead. A few hours before dawn they have an internal alarm clock that goes off that awakens them from this suspended animation. At this point they fluff themselves up, start to shiver and beat their wings. This generates enough heat to increase their body temperature a few degrees a minute. Total time to awaken from torpor takes about 20-60 minutes. If they have budgeted their energy reserves well, once awake they have just enough energy to fly off and find their first meal of the day. Now try to imagine how much they need to eat to raise 2-3 chicks!
This photo is of a female rufous hummingbird after coming back from a successful feeding trip to feed her two rapidly growing chicks (photos to come down the road). She took a quick break to rest during a chilly morning in the Rockies.
Two young of year black bears check to make sure the coast is clear before running off to catch up with mom.
Just like a kid (or a big kid) trying to balance themselves while walking along the railway tracks or a parking rail, this 3 year old grizzly seemed to prefer to move between feeding sites by sauntering along a bunch of dead-fall trees than following his siblings through the grass.
With the Bow river discoloured brown and already bursting at the seams from all the runoff, a new storm built up and rumble over the Rocky Mountains. I had about 10 minutes before I was engulfed in the thunderstorm, which gave me just enough time to set up my gear and safely get a few photos of the clouds and lightning strikes off in the distance. As luck would have it this strike happened in the perfect spot for my composition. Not wanting to push my luck, I packed up my gear and ran for my car as the clouds opened up above me.
I don’t get down to Waterton as much as I would like these days but when I do make the trip it is always special. Having spent lots of time there in the past, I have certain spots I like to revisit to see if the wildlife is still following the same rhythms. Even though much of the park was closed due to the recent flooding I wasn’t disappointed when we came across the huge flock of cliff swallows I have been watching for a few years now. I took this photo with a 12-24mm wide angle lens so that gives you an idea of how close the birds get. It felt like I was in the middle of their flock and they didn’t seem concerned in the least by our presence, often times hovering only a few feet away as the strong winds blew through the mountain passes.
The strong winds were perfect for the swallows to use to hover above the water in search of insects. I used the opportunity to try to get a few close-ups of them in flight. Not an easy feat even when they are close-by and cooperative.
This one is my favourite of the close-ups. It clearly shows the aerodynamic profile of the wings and how the birds use their tail feathers to help stabilize and steer themselves through the air.
I’m in the danger zone taking this picture but thankfully none of the swallows took issue with me and I made it out no worse for wear!
Even when taking a break from eating, thoughts of fresh dandelions never appears to be far from this bear’s mind!
A female (closer and in focus) and male silvery blue butterfly have an intimate moment as they try to pretend to be aspen leaves! Eggs are laid singly and from this point on their adopted parents and bodyguards are ants! The eggs hatch and the larvae feed on the young tree leaves. The ants protect the larvae from predators and parasitic wasps and as compensation for this protection the larvae feed the ants a sugary concoction known as honeydew. The honeydew isn’t given up easily by the larvae. It’s only when the ant climbs onto the back of the larvae and uses its antenna to stroke the larvae’s hairs that the honeydew is secreted! Overwintering occurs in a chrysalis where they transform into a butterfly and emerge in the spring to repeat the whole process.
Spring seems to take a long time in the mountains, but when it does arrive it’s always spectacular. This spring I timed it just right to be in this meadow when the forget me not flowers were in full bloom. It was well worth the year-long wait!
There are few sounds in nature that signify wilderness and pristine waters than that of the song of a loon. They are one of my favourite signs of spring in the mountains and it’s always a thrill to see them! I lucked out with this one as it actually approached me when I noticed it along the river’s edge.
The loon swam closer and closer before it stopped a short distance away. I’m not sure if it saw its reflection in my lens or if he was displaying for some other reason, but whatever the cause he proceeded to give me a wonderful territorial display by stretching out his neck and legs and lifting his wings. After getting a few photos of this interesting behaviour I packed up my gear and left him be as he resumed his fishing nearby.
I had hiked in to a spot beside a river to look for wildlife but nothing was around at the time. Instead of leaving, I decided to lay down and have a nap in a spot that if something did show up I would be a in a good spot to get photos. I quickly drifted off for a light sleep for about an hour. When I woke up I scanned the area before I sat up, but again I didn’t see anything. Figuring I should move on I sat up and almost immediately this grebe popped up in the water about 20 feet away. I waited until it dove back under the water before I moved back into position and waited. My wait wasn’t very long. It surfaced right in front of me and stayed there just long enough for me to get a few photos.
Three green winged teal stack themselves like the three mountain peaks as they fly along the Rocky Mountain migratory route to their summer retreat.
Owen Slater Photography 