There are basically two ways to find and photography wildlife: you can either travel to parks where animals are habituated and standing off the side of the road, or you can learn the art of getting close to truly wild animals in nature. When it comes to working with non-habituated wildlife, it's important to understand what we are communicating with them.

When it comes to finding and approaching wildlife, sound plays a very important role. From the sounds we make as we move through nature to the sounds that animals make as well, any self respecting wildlife photographer holds themselves back if they aren't considering the soundscape around them and how they are influencing.

Humans evolved to see patterns in the environment and more importantly, interruptions in those patterns. Learning to find wildlife requires learning how to find the breaks in patterns. Horizontal lines are often mammals, and off colored masses that fill in light gaps or break up patterns of often birds such as owls. When we begin seeing in terms of patterns and start looking for breaks in the visual flow of the environment is when we open up a who new world of opportunities for ourselves.

There is no silver bullet when it comes to finding and approaching wildlife. It requires a synthesis of different techniques and observations, what the late Harvard biologist, E.O. Wilson, referred to as a consilience of knowledge. We don't so much "look" for wildlife as we listen, smell, look, and intone where wildlife are.