A couple of wildlife photos, in honor of World Wildlife Day.
Wildlife, and the spaces it inhabits, is personally important to me. I love being in wild places, surrounded by natural beauty, for the calm and joy it brings me, and seeing animals in their native habitat is absolutely a part of that! This has been true my entire life; starting from my father taking me camping, through my uncle taking me hunting, to multi-day hiking or camping trips with friends and family. As well as solo trips aplenty. I don’t do it nearly enough, honestly.
Wildlife should matter to everyone, and does whether they realize it or not. Our environment is a system of systems, and those natural systems interact with human built ones in a multitude of ways large and small. Wildlife are the ambassadors for those systems. Healthy abundant wildlife means healthy wilderness, which makes those points of contact with human systems healthy. If you like clean air and clean water and the things that rely on them (hint: it’s everything), wildlife and wilderness play a big role in those things existing. Defending them is self-defense. We’re not separate from them in any meaningful way except physical distance.
Frequently not even that! The photos in today’s post were taken in a town park (the elk), and on an afternoon whale watching tour.
Wildlife is closer than you think. Go see some! You’ll enjoy it.
Gear: Nikon D750, Nikon Z 7II, Sigma 150-600mm f5-6.3, Sigma 1.4 Teleconverter
