Today I share with you a small visual salute to some wildlife children. The good Lord planned for our wild neighbors to start small and grow just as He did us.

A favorite subject of mine were Red Fox kits. Especially when they were with a parent. The first image is mom with a baby, and the second is dad. The images were made in Wisconsin.

The two images below were wild burro mares with babies, in South Dakota.

For several years in a row, I was privileged to “work” the tree cavity you see below which was in a Wisconsin cemetery. Every year a new batch of baby Great-Horned Owls were brought into the world until the tree was finally removed.

Below we find a Tree Swallow nest in a picnic shelter in Illinois with some hungry babies. In the second image a parent or flock member is feeding one of them.

I’ve forgotten what species the fledgling you see below is. The image was made in a bush in my own backyard.

Freight train?  This female Pied Billed Grebe, made me a happy photographer when she paraded her babies past me in a Wisconsin marsh.

I spent three springs photographing Osprey with babies at this southern Wisconsin platform. I know not whether this is mom or dad, but whichever it is. it are “touching down” between two babies.

Back to mammals again with these two young Yellow-bellied Marmots, who were playing high on the Colorado Rockies. I miss Marmots and even more I miss being high up in the mountains.

Just after sunrise I captured this image of a mamma White-tailed deer with her curious baby at her side. This was at an Illinois state park.

One of the more difficult captures I made was with this adult Sandhill Crane, both parent with baby and the baby alone. The images were made a very short time after sunrise and though the birds were not skittish, they were constantly moving. Perseverance is a trait that all wildlife photographers need.

The location was Horicon Marsh NWR in Wisconsin.

One of the easiest images one can make, is to capture Canada Goose goslings. This one was created at a boat ramp at Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. I was sitting comfortably in my car, and my subjects and their parents cared nothing about my presence as long as I remained in that car. If they had been paid models who followed my instructions, I would have likely posed them just like this.

Photographing wild babies is the dream job for nature photographers. Some images are difficult to get, many if not most, are easy. 

There’s nothing like “new life” as a photographic subject. Always tread carefully and be respectful and they will pay you back with photos.

Hopefully the humble images above, were a pleasant escape from the trials and tribulations that exist daily in today’s world.

May God Bless,
Wayne