Episode 20: Weather is the biggest predictor of wildlife behavior in the winter
Key Takeaways
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 within the wildlife photography community. Jared and Annalise discuss photographing great gray owls and gray wolves in the middle of hunt to explain the importance of this concept on their photography.
If this is a topic you are interested learning more about, not only are there several free articles about weather and wildlife you can find on the website, Jared published an in-depth feature article in the Winter 24 issue of PhotoWILD Magazine about this very topic. Subscribers have access to all the back issues, so make sure you check out that issue.
Want to go further with this topic on weather and wildlife? Check out the articles below
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. . . . READ MORE
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. . .
Weather and Wildlife: When Winter Fails
Despite the lack of winter this year, the wildlife photography will still be good – albeit different than years past. As stated above, there will be winners and there will be losers due to the lack of snow across the Northern Hemisphere as a whole.
But one thing that can’t be left out of the equation, and is likely more important than snow, or the like thereof, is temperature. . .