The Bug Parade

Westslope Cutthroat Trout, a native trout to Alberta’s Rocky Mountain streams and a clear sign of healthy watersheds. They face growing pressures, including industry and climate change, and moments like this remind me why careful fish-handling and continued advocacy matter.

Swipe for the wider image (my favourite) and the camera details for this shot! ✨

What do you notice first about a healthy river: the fish, the water, or the landscape around it?

📸 Sony a7R IV | 70-200mm f/2.8
fish.wet

Prairie grasslands in southern Alberta seem to come alive at golden hour, a habitat that holds more life than first meets the eye. From birds nesting in the grass to pollinators working late, every detail catches that warm last light. My pup Zetti enjoys the view (for a moment, before the zoomies kick back in 😆).

Swipe for the full perspective.

Golden hour or morning light, what’s your pick?

📸 Sony a7R IV | Sigma 85mm f/1.4

I photographed this sweet little fawn along a rural road not far from the acreage where I grew up. I remember watching the prairie grass sway on the hillsides as deer moved through. Fawns are born with spotted coats that help camouflage them in tall grass, but their curiosity often gives them away, just like this one, who paused to study me while its mom stood close by.

Swipe for the un-cropped ✨

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📸 Sony a7R IV | 200-600mm
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I snapped this photo at a prairie lake in southern Alberta during a warm summer evening. This Wilson’s Phalarope was picking along the mud in-front of me, snatching up little invertebrates for dinner. So naturally, I researched a bit more about this new-to-me bird and learned that while they breed in prairie wetlands, they migrate all the way to South America…some wintering as far south as Tierra del Fuego, near the edge of the world! Alberta is one of the key stopovers along their route. Never ceases to amaze me the great distances migratory bird species travel.
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📸 Sony a7R IV | 200–600mm
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A pair of Blue-winged Teal preening in the shallows of a Southern Alberta lake. From this angle it looks like only two, but swipe for the full frame — three ducks perfectly lined up, all preening in the same direction. Sometimes, patience and perspective create their own kind of symmetry. ✨
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📸 Sony a7R IV | 200–600mm
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A flash of yellow in the branches — the Yellow Warbler. Photographed in a summer evening along the Bow River. One of the most widespread warblers in North America, often weaving through willows and cottonwoods in search of insects. Recently I learned that they’re also one of the few songbirds that will cover up cowbird eggs (cowbirds are an invasive species that lay their eggs in other birds’ nests) with new nesting material rather than raise an imposter chick. Pretty bad ass for a little song bird.

As always swipe for the un-cropped ✨
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📸 Sony a7R IV | 200–600mm
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From the black lava rock shores of Wailea to the cloud-wrapped trails of Haleakalā, Maui is a place of contrasts. One side of the volcano holds fern-covered slopes near Rainbow Bridge along the Halemauʻu Trail; the other, a stark descent into the barren crater itself. Along the way a Cattle Egret stood watch in a golf course, a Common Myna called from the trees, and a Red-crested Cardinal flashed through the branches. The days closed in contrasts too, with sunsets where ocean and sky blurred into shifting bands of color.

Swipe to see the photos — and with that, this concludes my Maui series.
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📸 Sony a7R IV | 20mm & 200–600mm
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Fewer than 1,500 aeʻo (ah-eh-oh), also known as Hawaiian Stilts, remain in the wild. Endemic to Hawaii and listed as endangered, they depend on wetlands like Maui’s Keālia Pond National Wildlife Refuge. On a windy afternoon, they skimmed low over the choppy water, adjusting their flight to each gust.
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📸 Sony a7R IV | 200–600mm
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Zebra doves, a familiar sight in Hawaii with their fine barred plumage and soft cooing calls. These two perched in the breeze, pausing their preening just long for me to snap a few photos. Warm sunset light caught on every feather as the wind lifted them again, leaving a slightly rumpled look despite their best efforts.

Swipe for the uncropped ✨
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📸 Sony a7R IV | 200–600mm
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Sunsets in Maui are special, and hard to capture in a way that feels true. I paced the shoreline, looking for a composition that could hold the warmth of golden hour. In the end, it was the simplest frame, and honestly the obvious choice: wide view, palm trees, and the day folding gently into the Pacific Ocean. This was the shot that came closest to how it felt.
Swipe for the uncropped wide angle. ✨
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📸 Sony a7R IV | 20mm f/1.8 | ND64 filter | Tripod

In the middle of the marsh, a juvenile Yellow-headed Blackbird begged and poked at dad for attention. Dad listened briefly before flying off to a much quieter perch. Funny how parenting moments transcend species 😆

Swipe on over for the un-cropped ✨

📸 Sony a7R IV + 200–600mm

Perched along the Bow River, Baltimore Orioles spend their summers here nesting and raising their young before migrating thousands of kilometers to Central and South America for the winter. A fleeting burst of color along the Bow river valley. 🧡
Swipe for the un-cropped, my preferred perspective.

📸 Sony a7R IV | 200–600mm