I have posted a couple of photos of a black wolf over the last week or so. Actually, these photos were of one of two black wolves with the Toklat pack – I couldn’t tell them apart, but I have many photos with both in them, so I know there were two. I first saw these two beautiful wolves in the spring of 2001, they must have arrived that winter. A biologist told me the two were siblings. They, along with their pack mates would soon become very popular with visitors and photographers as they were regularly seen along the Park road, and even in the Tek campground!
Unfortunately that all changed a couple of winters ago. That winter a number of pack members were trapped while wandering outside Denali National Park. Later that same winter, one of the two black wolves was shot (legally) by a hunter when he too wandered outside the Park. News reports said the black wolf had been wandering far and wide after losing his mate.
I saw members of the pack a few times that following summer, and they were very far away and even then very skittish. So what could be good about that? The good is what happened to the second black wolf. [click to continue…]
Up until now, I have only posted photos of the Toklat Pack in Denali National Park. Beginning in 2002 I started seeing this female fairly regularly much further west in the Park in an area that is typically known as the range for the Grant Creek Pack. Unfortunately she wore an ugly research collar which made many of my photos of her less desirable. I was able to hide the collar in this photo by getting low enough for the vegetation to block it. To make matters worse, her collar didn’t even work. [click to continue…]
This old photo was one of my first decent wild wolf images. I was sitting by myself early one morning at a nice viewpoint overlooking a river valley in Denali National Park, Alaska. It was a valley in which I had seen a lot of wolf activity over the previous days, and I was really hoping for a good photo opportunity. After sitting for a couple of hours I got this weird feeling that I was being watched. I turned around and was shocked to see that a wolf had quietly walked up to within 20 feet behind me! My heart was racing – I wasn’t sure if I should be excited or scared – I was some of both. [click to continue…]
In my last post I shared the thrill of being next to a howling wild wolf. Turns out, that wasn’t the end of the excitement.
After a few minutes of howling by the black wolf, a little movement in the woods to my left caught my eye. Sure enough, another Wolf had walked to the edge of the forest and was surveying the situation. After about a minute this second wolf walked up and greeted the first one – that is the moment captured here. I was too close to even get them both entirely in the same frame! [click to continue…]
For Janine and I, this photo of a howling wolf was without a doubt one of our all time amazing experiences in nature. [click to continue…]
Recently I have received a few email about wolves, and I thought why not do a series of posts on my favorite subject. At times, I have invested large amounts of time looking for and trying to photograph wolves. I would often return to a particular spot day after day and wait for the entire day in the hopes of spotting a wolf. Without a doubt, this time spent has lead to some of my most memorable experiences and favorites images. I hope to share some of them over the next few days.
I picked a good time to do a series of posts on our new covers as the 2007 Milepost arrived in the mail just today. This is a cover I’m really proud and excited of as the Milepost is a long running publication that I remember well even as a kid – every vehicle traveling to and through Alaska back then and today has one of these on the dash, as well they should. [click to continue…]
by Ron on January 15, 2007
This Rock Ptarmigan was photographed in Denali National Park. I have included it here only because I thought it was a nice winter bird photo, not becuase it was seen in Seward, Alaska. I have seen numerous Ptarmigain around Seward, but usually Willow Ptarmigain.
If my birding ability could ski, it would just now be venturing onto the intermediate blue square slopes, but I am an eager learner. [click to continue…]
by Ron on August 16, 2006
As part of this blog, I hope to share some of what went into an image, the story behind the photo if you will. I figured what better photo to start with then the current image in the mast head, Mt McKinley Panoramic. [click to continue…]
