BOHEMIAN ELEGANCE: If elegance wore a black mask under a pastel crest, it might be a waxwing on another snowy Southcentral Alaska day. #birds #BirdsSeenIn2026 #BirdPhotography #nature

ASPEN TRUNKS. I like them because they're pretty and generally good about standing still to have their picture taken. 😉 #nature #naturephotography #art #trees #still_life

SUMMER COLORS: A willow ptarmigan hen pauses suspiciously against a background of pink fireweed blossoms and verdant wild grasses. At the moment, this same bird would be snow-white to match its winter environment. #BirdsSeenIn2026 #birds #BirdPhotography #nature #wildlife

INCOMING ... I MEAN, DUCK! A mallard drake appears ready to land in my lap recently in Southcentral Alaska. #BirdsSeenIn2026 #birds #birding #nature #photography

A Bohemian waxwing pauses during a light snowfall from its meal of fermented crabapple. Southcentral Alaska. #birds #birding #BirdPhotography #nature #naturephotography

LOOKING FOR LOVE: It's mating season for Alaska's red foxes, and this one seems to be on the lookout. #wildlife #WildlifePhotography #nature #foxes #naturephotography

POSER: A Bohemian waxwing strikes a pose yesterday in Anchorage, Alaska. Flocks of the birds winter in and around the city where they feed on berries and the fruits of ornamental trees. #BirdsSeenIn2026 #birds #BirdPhotography #nature #wildlife

A RED CROSSBILL male, distinguished by its vibrant red and orange plumage, pauses from feeding in a Southcentral Alaska crabapple tree. #birds #birding #BirdPhotography #nature

COLORS: A northern shoveler drake preens in the shallows of an Interior Alaska beaver pond. #birds #BirdPhotography #birding #wildlife #WildlifePhotography #nature #ducks

I BEG YOUR PARDON! This young bull moose's bath was interrupted one June evening by a rude photographer. Spoiler alert: He got over it. #moose #wildlife #photography #nature #wildlifephotography #animals

COMING ATCHA' ... a mallard drake, seen here screaming over a snow-covered background, was captured yesterday in Southcentral Alaska. #BirdsSeenIn2026 #birds #birding #BirdPhotography #ducks

AIRBOURNE: A common goldeneye drake takes off from a lake in Southcentral Alaska. #BirdOfTheDay #openwings #birds #birding #BirdPhotography

A semipalmated sandpiper calls out from the high-Arctic tundra near Barrow, Alaska. #BirdOfTheDay #birds #birding #openbeak #openwings

KING OF THE SEAS: Land takeoffs, like this one, are relative rarities for king eiders which spend most of their lives at sea. This colorful drake was photographed near Utqiagvik, Alaska. #birds #birding #BirdPhotography #BirdsSeenIn2026

A LOCAL MALLARD sails by in a flash of color. Mallards are hardy ducks and some weather subzero temperatures to winter in Southcentral Alaska. This one was photographed in Anchorage. #birds #birding #BirdPhotography #BirdsSeenIn2026

A downy woodpecker male, distinguished by the scarlet marking on its crown, pauses inquisitively on the branch of a dead birch. #Birds #Birding #BirdsSeenIn2026 #wildlife

WINTER LIGHT: A willow ptarmigan resembles a living snowball on a winter's day on the Alaska tundra. #BirdOfTheDay #Winterlight #BirdPhotography #Birds

SHAKE IT OFF, BABY! A ring-necked duck hen shakes off after a dive in a Southcentral Alaska marsh. #BirdPhotography #Birds #birdsyoulove #wildlife

A SPRUCE GROUSE male stands lookout in a spruce tree one evening in Alaska's Matanuska Valley. #birds #BirdPhotography #Nature #wildlife

DROPPING IN: A drake gadwall prepares to land in a Southcentral Alaska marsh. #birds #BirdPhotography #nature #wildlife

I ONLY HAVE GOLDENEYES FOR YOU ... A Barrow's goldeneye pair courts in an Interior Alaska pond in May. In North America, these handsome diving ducks are frequently seen in the northwestern United States, Canada, and Alaska. #birds #BirdPhotography #nature #wildlife

I met this distinguished Denali National Park resident in August where he kindly posed for this portrait. #wildlife #wildlifephotography #nature #animals

WANDERING WIGEON drake, backlit by morning sun, forages on a SC Alaska pond (May). #birds #BirdPhotography #ducks #nature

NORTHERN SHOVELER drake forages on an Interior Alaska pond in May. #BirdPhotography #Birds #NaturePhotography #birdoftheday

A RED PHALAROPE ... forages in a wetland near Barrow, Alaska. Red phalaropes winter at sea and are most common in the Atlantic Ocean along the west coast of Africa. They’re also found in the Pacific off California and Peru. #birds #shorebirds #nature #photography

PORTRAIT: A spruce grouse male pauses for a close-up in Alaska's Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. #birds #wildlife #nature #photography

THE EIDER SANCTION: This spectacled eider, photographed near Utqiagvik, in Alaska's high Arctic, paddled almost up to me as if granting permission for this shot. #birds #wildlife #Arctic #nature

Miss Priss: Canada goose photographed in April near, Anchorage, Alaska. #birds #geese #nature #wildlife #photography

TROUBLE IN PARADISE: The morning was silent until a flock of trumpeter swans dropped in. The pond's resident pair took exception to the new arrivals and skirmishes followed. The territorial dispute was punctuated by brassy honks and heavy wingbeats on the water. #swans #birds #nature #photography

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: A Barrow's goldeneye drake is illuminated by early-morning light as it rockets over a small Interior Alaska pond last May. #birds #ducks #nature #photography

SALAD BEAR: An Alaska brown bear feeds on sedges in early summer before salmon arrive in local streams. Sedges provide a surprising amount of protein and serve as summer's "first course" for hungry bears. #wildlife #animals #nature #photography

STRETCH ON THE WATER ... a gadwall hen bathes on a Southcentral Alaska pond. #birds #ducks #nature #photography

GADWALLS ON ICE ... a hen, left, and drake pair rest on an ice shelf in Southcentral Alaska. #ducks #birds #nature #photography

REMEMBERING on this still, snowy afternoon that warm late-summer evening spent photographing this critter. Somewhere between Denali and Delta. #wildlife #animals #nature #phoptography

WILDLIFE CROSSING: A cinnamon, or brown color-phase, black bear crosses a remote stretch of highway one morning last May. Alaska's short winter days and long nights have given me time to methodically view and process photos taken last summer. #wildlife #nature #photography #wildlifephotography

SAPPHIRE AND ICE: A Steller's jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) forages in the snow on a cold winter day near Anchorage, Alaska. Resourceful and tough, these jays have little trouble surviving Southcentral Alaska's winters. #birds #jays #nature #photography

SITTIN’ ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY … a sea otter lounges in morning sunlight on the small-boat harbor dock in Cordova, Alaska. #wildlife #nature #photography #otters

COMMON REDPOLL. Anchorage, Alaska.

ALL RUFFLED UP: A Steller's jay fluffs its feathers on a cold day in Anchorage, Alaska. #birds #birding #nature #photography

SEDUCTRESS: A Barrow’s goldeneye hen seems to celebrate early one May morning in an Alaska pond. In fact, the bird’s actions were part of a breeding display for a drake outside the frame. #ducks #birds #nature #photography

THE BEAR STARE: A young adult brown bear, photographed in Canada's Yukon last May, shows little emotion as it peers into my lens. #bear #wildlife #animals #nature

CATCHING ANYTHING? With snow in the forecast, a kingfisher glances up from its perch overlooking a Southcentral Alaska salmon stream. #birds #nature #wildlife #photography

LOVESICK BLUES: Rising from the brush, a bull moose seems to sing a wistful tune as it tests the air for the scent of a receptive cow. Breeding season for moose in Southcentral Alaska begins in September and runs through October and even into early November. #moose #wildife #nature #photography

A spruce grouse hen (Canachites canadensis) stands at alert near a trail in eastern Alaska's Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. #birds #wildlife #nature #photography

A trumpeter swan catches a stray sunbeam as it flies through stormy skies on Alaska's Copper River Delta. #birds #swans #nature #photography

APRIL OUTTAKE: I was fortunate six months ago to gather a number of shots of this kingfisher in a snowstorm. Sharing now a slightly different perspective. #kingfisher #birds #nature #photography

ARCTIC BEAUTY: A tundra swan pauses primping to pose for the camera. Photographed near Barrow, these Arctic nesters are distinguished from trumpeter swans by the yellow patch between eye and bill. Tundra swans winter in the Lower 48 along the East and West coasts. #swans #birds #nature #photography

SPRUCED UP FOR DINNER ... an American three-toed woodpecker forages for grubs hidden in the bark. #woodpecker #birds #nature #photography

Western sandpipers. Southcentral Alaska. #birds #shorebirds #nature #photography

A marbled godwit towers over a flock of dowitchers in Southcentral Alaska's Prince William Sound. #birds #shorebirds #nature #photography