Episode 20: Weather and Wildlife
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Animals live or die by the ways in which they respond to changing weather
Wildlife photographers can dramatically increase their success rate in the field by understanding how animals are going to behave, feed, move, and react to weather
Barometric pressure is often the most reliable predictor of wildlife behavior in the winter months
Stories about photographing great gray owls
The relationship between wolves and bison
Let’s face it: if you can’t find animals to photograph then you are going to have a very tough time being a wildlife photographer. It doesn’t matter how sophisticated your autofocus system is or how expensive your lenses are. Without wildlife, without the ability to predictably find and approach animals, you can’t be a wildlife photographer.
In this episode, Jared and Annalise discuss one of the most important predictors of wildlife behavior in the winter months: weather. But more than just snow, more than the cold, it’s the barometric pressure that photographers need to understand. This transcends latitudes as barometric pressure impacts wildlife from the tropics to the tundra.
This is one of those topics that needs to be discussed but never is. Jared and Annalise explain how photographers can learn to use the barometric pressure to predict wildlife behavior. In this episode, the hosts also talk about photographing great gray owls and gray wolves in the middle of hunt to explain the importance of this concept in wildlife photography.
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Weather and Wildlife: Predicting Behavior
Winter is coming and with it so much change and opportunity for us wildlife photographers across those latitudes north of the tropics – if only one knows how to take advantage of such changes.
While weather is always a driving force in the daily lives of wild animals, dictating migration, breeding, movements across territories, how they hunt, how they feed, how they live and die on planet Earth, it’s winter weather that is the great equalizer.
Weather and Wildlife: Expect the Unexpected
This past winter, while leading my annual Winter Yellowstone Workshop, we came across something extraordinary. This particular workshop was my 30th winter trip I had led in the park. Over the years, I have spent hundreds of hours tracking bobcats, and helping clients find and photograph these elusive cats. But never had I found one who had killed a deer. . .