Canadian wildlife Species - The Mountain Goat

Mountain goats are not true goats—but they are close relatives. They are more properly known as goat-antelopes.

These surefooted beasts inhabit many of North America's most spectacular alpine environments. They often appear at precipitous heights, from Alaska to the U.S. Rocky Mountains, showcasing climbing abilities that leave other animals, including most humans, far below. Mountain goats have cloven hooves with two toes that spread wide to improve balance. Rough pads on the bottom of each toe provide the grip of a natural climbing shoe. Mountain goats are powerful but nimble and can jump nearly 12 feet (3.5 meters) in a single bound.

Mountain goats have distinctive beards and long, warm coats to protect them from cold temperatures and biting mountain winds. Their dazzling white coats provide good camouflage on the snowy heights. During the more moderate summer season goats shed this coat.

Female goats (called nannies) spend much of the year in herds with their young (called kids). These groups may include as many as 20 animals. Males (known as billies) usually live alone or with one or two other male goats. Both sexes boast beautiful pointed horns, and in mating season billies will sometimes use them to battle rivals for prospective mates.

In the spring, a nanny goat gives birth to one kid (sometimes two), which must be on its feet within minutes of arrival into its sparse mountain world. Mountain goats eat plants, grasses, mosses, and other alpine vegetation.

To see one of my most popular workshops to photograph Mountain goats in the Yukon, see this link... http://www.kevinpepperphotography.com/2018-northern-lights-in-the-yukon-1-1 

A Canadian Wildlife Species Spotlight - The Elk

A Canadian Wildlife Species Spotlight - The Elk

The elk is the second largest member of the deer family; only the moose is larger. Bull elk grow large antlers every year, which they use to spar with other bulls during the rut each fall. In the late winter, the antlers drop off and new antlers start to grow.

When antlers are growing, they are covered in dark brown fuzz, called velvet. This protects and nourishes the soft antlers with blood and nutrients until they are fully grown. In August the antlers harden. The bulls will rub the velvet off and polish their antlers on tree trunks and shrubs.

The rut is the breeding season for ungulates. It begins in the fall, usually after the first few frosty nights. Elk are known for their distinctive bugling, which sounds like a high-pitched howl. Bull elk bugle during the rut to attract females and to challenge other males.

Elk graze on grasses as well as browse leaves from shrubs. They prefer dry, arid habitat spotted with deciduous trees such as trembling aspen or balsam poplar. They like a combination of large grassy meadows, with nearby forest cover.

There are an estimated 300-400 wild elk in the Yukon. They are descended from elk introduced from Elk Island National Park in Alberta. And its not like you have to look far for them. Each year as we drive the highways we can see them roaming the sides of the hills by day and coming out to graze roadside when the sun goes down.

If you want to go photograph the elk, please see my Yukon Photography Workshops. All the details can be seen here www.kevinpepperphotography.com/photography-workshops-in-the-yukon

Newfoundland Photo Workshop for puffins, whales and gannets

2019 Newfoundland East Coast Extension

For those that just can't get enough of this amazing province, we have more for you to do. This mini workshop is ideal for the photographer that wants to take those photos of the quindescential east coast, colourful buildings along the coastal waterways. As an added bonus we will take you to North Americas largest colony of Puffins that you can photograph form land and put you up close and personal with humpback whales that will be swimming around the icebergs off the east coast of Newfoundland. 

Dates of Workshop

Dates: June 23 to June 27, 2019

Instructors

Kevin Allen Pepper

Payment Information

$2995CDN plus applicable taxes for a maximum of 4 people

What’s Included

Unlimited mileage vehicle, 4 nights high quality accommodations, two zodiac tours and any entrance fees

What’s Not Included?

Items of personal nature, alcohol, meals, international flights, visa to enter Canada (if required), anything not listed as included.

Itinerary

June 23, 2019 - Today we will drop off all the people not going on the extension at lunch time. After we drop them off we will head east towards Gander. One we arrive in Gander we will drop our luggage and head directly to

Stay in Gander, Newfoundland. 

June 24 and 25, 2019 - Its an early morning breakfast on the 24th before we head south to Bonavista Bay. First, we need to Newtown. Newtown is called the Venice of Newfoundland. Imagine the past meeting the present! Meet characters from the past in our homes, school, fish stage, gardens, and Sealers Interpretation Centre. But best of all are the photographic opportunities of this spectacular colourful town as the sun rises during the golden hour. Here you will see beautiful coastal Newfoundland at its finest. Our time here will be spent on two zodiac tours tracking down humpback whales and the cathedral icebergs as they travel down the coastal waters of iceberg alley. You will also visit the largest puffin colony in North America in Elliston. When we are not on the water there is also plenty to see and photograph. From the charming town of Trinity, to the lighthouses of Bonavista and Trinity, and all the coastal jagged landscapes your camera can take. :-)

Stay at Round da Bay Inn in Plate Cove on both nights

On the morning of June 26, 2019 - We head south towards our hotel in St. Johns. Our final destination, St. Johns. But before we get to our hotel, there is plenty to see and photograph. Our choices, depending on weather, and your appetite to photograph include, Hearts Content, Cavendish and a possible trip to see the gannet colony along the cliffs in Cape St. Marys. 

Todays drive can see you photographing more lighthouses, icebergs, gannets, picturesque fishing huts and the every popular jelly bean row, the battery and CapeSpear Lighthouse south of St. Johns. 

Stay in St. Johns. 

June 27, 2019 - The best time to photograph Cape Spear is early morning as the sun rises. I will have you put in the right place to capture the first sunrise in North America. We will spend the morning at the lighthouse with a trip to the Battery and Jelly Bean row before returning you to the hotel to grab your bags.

I can have you at the St. Johns airport by 12 noon so you can catch your flight home. 

Contact us if this is of interest to you and we will get you registered. Click here to contact me, http://www.kevinpepperphotography.com/2019-newfoundland-east-coast-extension 

Winter Wildlife Photo Workshop in Canada

Winter Wildlife and Birds of Prey

Dates: February 25 - March 3, 2018

Instructor: Kevin Pepper

Introduction: This workshop is designed to give you great opportunities to photograph the owls and wildlife in Ontario. I will strive to take you to the locations away from the local birders and photographers that line the side of the roads, looking from afar, and assist you with exposure, compensation, metering, focus tracking and more. Winter Owl and Wildlife photography is one of the most challenging conditions you may face, cold winds, blowing snow, but we will make sure you are ready.

See Details http://www.kevinpepperphotography.com/contact-me/

The largest bald eagle migration in the world

Did You know that British Columbia in Canada has one of the largest bald eagle migrations in the world every fall and winter? 

If birds of prey are something you like to photograph, Jeff Wendorff and I have just the trip for you. 

This photo workshop is centered on the largest bald eagle migration in North America. Between 2000 to 8000 bald eagles find their way to this area beginning in late October to feed on the spawning salmon. They then stay in the area until later in the winter months to have their young before returning to their summer area in Northern BC and the Yukon.

Your guide for this workshop will guide you to the best locations for photographing the eagles in the Fraser Valley that is surrounded by the Cascade Mountain range. This is the fifth year I have returned to the location to run these workshops.

We will also visit between peak eagle viewing time. We have seen the following species at these locations in previous years: Snowy Owl, Red Tailed Hawk, Pacific Loon, Red Throated loon, Grebe, Golden Eyes, Wood Ducks, Sandhill Cranes, Herons, Pintails, Belted Kingfisher, Short Eared Owls, Bard Owls, Barred Owls, Buffleheads, Mergansers, Egrets, Snow Geese, Mute Swans, Rough Legged Hawk, Canvas Back, Golden Eagles, Peregrine Falcon, Virginia Rail, Common Snipe and Great Horned Owl.

White trumpeter swans and snow geese also converge on the productive Harrison region every winter. These birds migrate to the Harrison Valley during the cold winter months, feeding mostly on corn left over from the fall harvest. Trumpeter swans and snow geese are often spotted swimming in the region’s many sloughs or feeding in the corn fields along the roads we drive on during the workshop.

Dates of Workshop: November 26 to December 1, 2017

The cost for the six day workshop is $2995USD (Until Feb 1, 2017 do not pay single supplement to get your own room)

To reserve a spot, a $500USD deposit per reservation.  The final installment to be made 90 days prior to the start of the workshop.

Guides for these workshops: Jeff Wendorff and Kevin Pepper 

The Maximum attendees per session are 5, the minimum attendees per session are 3. 

The tour cost includes all the following: Shared accommodation at a local hotel along the beach. Personal hides to use during the workshop. A welcome meeting/dinner with your fellow photographers and your guides. All breakfasts, Instruction in the field with your photographer guides with a maximum of 3 photographers per guide, Image critique (optional)

The tour cost does not include: International or domestic airfare. Travel Insurance, Alcohol, Items of personal nature, Anything not outlined as included. We begin the tour with a welcome meeting in the afternoon of day one as we get to know everyone and discuss the plans for the coming days. For the next five days we will make frequent visits to the different viewing grounds. Once on site, your instructors will utilize their knowledge of the area and the eagles; then guide you to that perfect location for obtaining your “once in a lifetime” shot in the picturesque British Columbia scenery.

We can also head out to some of BC's pristine landscape and waterfall photography locations in the lower mainland of British Columbia.

The tour size is limited to six photographers so you can count on minimal interruption throughout your journey in British Columbia. 

What you will learn: We will focus on planning for a successful bird of prey shoot... from clothing, to gear, to positioning and planning techniques.

When we are out photographing raptors we will discuss camera settings, holding your camera properly and what settings to consider using to maximize the number of shots that you consider a "keeper". We will also discuss bird habits to watch for to increase your success.

When we return to the hotel we will then open up our laptops and discuss editing techniques to achieve sharper images, composition from cropping and introduce you to some techniques we use to create more appealing images.

Day One Events - Pick Up attendees from the Vancouver airport or local area hotel at noon and taken south of Vancouver to photograph species such as Red Tailed Hawk, Pacific Loon, Red Throated loon, Grebe, Golden Eyes, Wood Ducks, Sandhill Cranes, Herons, Pintails, Belted Kingfisher, Short Eared Owls, Bard Owls, Barred Owls, Buffleheads, Mergansers, Egrets, Snow Geese, Mute Swans, Rough Legged Hawk, Canvas Back, Golden Eagles, Peregrine Falcon, Virginia Rail, Common Snipe and Great Horned Owl.

After our afternoon shooting we will check into our local hotel in Delta, BC and go have a group dinner to go over the rest of the weeks activities.

Day Two Events - Today we will be visiting all our scouted locations to photograph the same species as yesterday from 730am till 330pm.

We will depart this area after our day taking photos and check into our hotel near the bald eagle migration area in Mission, BC.

Night time editing session to look at your photos and help you make adjustments to capture better photos in the coming days

Day Three Events - Today we will be visiting all our scouted locations where the eagles traditionally hunt and rest. Expect to be out photographing eagles from 730am till 330pm.

Night time editing session to look at your photos and help you make adjustments to capture better photos.

Day Four Events - Today we will be visiting all our scouted locations where the eagles traditionally hunt and rest. Expect to be out photographing eagles from 730am till 330pm.

Night time editing session to look at your photos and help you make adjustments to capture better photos.

Day Five Events - Today we will be visiting all our scouted locations where the eagles traditionally hunt and rest. Expect to be out photographing eagles from 730am till 330pm.

Night time editing session to look at your photos and help you make adjustments to capture better photos.

Day Six Events - We will check out of our hotel and head back to an area south of Vancouver to look for owls that call this area home during the fall and winter season. After that we will take you to the airport. Please schedule your departures after 3pm and you will be transported to airport

If you are ready to see the largest Bald Eagle Migration in North America, and many other species of birds, or have some questions, please click here to contact me

Learn More About the Canada Lynx and Photo Workshops Where You Can Photograph Them

Today I wanted to introduce you to a species you can photograph with me on my tours to the yukon. Its one of my personal favourite animals we have in Canada. 

The Canada Lynx resembles a gigantic housecat. It has a very short body, small tail, and long legs. Their fur coat is usually thick, long and grey in the winter and short, thin and light brown in the summer. Year-round they have black tips on the end of their tails and on their triangle-shaped ears. The Canada Lynx has a very wide face that has longer patches of fur on the side of its face – it looks like a beard!

The long, round feet of the Canada Lynx act like snowshoes by distributing their weight to help keep on top of the snow. They also have sharp claws that retract helping them to climb, fight predators and capture prey. Their feet are covered in a thick layer of fur to keep them warm in the winter.

Habitats/Behaviours

Canada Lynxes can be found in forested areas and make their dens underneath fallen trees, tree stumps, rock ledges or thick bushes. Lynxes are very territorial animals – males live alone and are usually only found around other lynxes during breeding season, in winter. Females stay with the baby kittens.

All their hunting is done at night, which they are well adapted with big eyes and superior hearing. Because lynxes are not fast runners, they have to be sneaky to catch their dinner. They usually bound after their prey and pounce on them from a hiding spot – some even sit still for hours to just to catch a bite!

The main source of food for this lynx is snowshoe hares. A hungry lynx will eat a whole hare for one meal, while others usually eat some and hide the rest for later. When hares cannot be found, the lynx will eat small mammals, birds and sometimes even large animals like caribou.

Predators of the lynx include cougars, wolves and coyotes, but humans are the biggest threat of all. Trappers favour lynx for their beautiful, thick fur coat.

Range

The Canada Lynx can be found in boreal forests all across Canada – from Newfoundland to the Yukon. Their range extends into western Montana, Idaho, Washington and Utah.

Copy courtesy of Canadian Geographic

Workshops to Photograph the Canada Lynx

I run a few workshops that will have you in front of the Canada Lynx. To see those workshops, visit my Wildlife Workshop page here, http://www.kevinpepperphotography.com/wildlife-workshops-in-canada

Photography Vacations in Newfoundland

This is where the sun rises first in North America. Where Vikings landed over 1,000 years ago. This place is home to the oldest settlement and the oldest city in North America, but is the youngest province of Canada. A vast land, with a relatively small population, Newfoundland and Labrador has some of the friendliest people you'll ever meet. Here, you can immerse yourself in wilderness solitude one day and embrace a vibrant culture at the cutting edge of the contemporary western world the next. This is a land of rich history and natural wonders: stunning coastlines, breaching whales, icebergs, and some of the most incredible skyscapes you'll ever see.

Why Come to Newfoundland With Me?

I have been travelling to Newfoundland and Labrador for many years now. From Rose Blanche to Gros Morne, north to Quirpon and Labrador, and up and down the south east coast. I have led trips for landscapes, wildlife, icebergs and those wonderful, cute little birds we all love, the Puffins. 

In total I have been on six photography trips to Newfoundland, and over the years refined my trips with the best partners in the province to make them perfect for the photographer. My partners for whale and iceberg tours, and the lighthouses we stay in make my trips every year memorable ones because of the experience, the fun and the photography opportunities. 

Check out all my Newfoundland trips that I have scheduled out till 2019 on this link:

www.kevinpepperphotography.com/newfoundland-photography-workshops

A bucketlist destination you didn't know was on your bucketlist

Mongolia holds a special place in my heart. 

From my magical first visit five years ago I remember driving through the rolling countryside headed towards the ancient city of Karakorum along country roads dotted with nomadic families in the ger tents that had come down from their winter locations. 

It felt surreal, as if I was stepping further back in time the further I travelled from Ulaanbaator. No roads, vehicles became sparce, and families living as they have for thousands of years… yet there I was, transporting myself back in time without riding in the time travelling DeLorian from Back to the future

As a history buff, I had read about Mongolia, often wondering what life would have been like when Ghengis Khan ruled most of the world from the city that would be my destination, Karakorum. 

Yet, here I was, seeing, and photographing life as its been for hundreds of generations before me. 

Despite its relatively small size, Karakorum was one of the most important cities in the history of the Silk Road. Although founded by Genghis Khan in 1220, Karakorum's development as capital of the Mongol Empire occurred in the 1230s under his son Ögedei. The Mongols had a profound impact on the history of trade across Central Asia, as their vast empire connected east and west, and trade and exchange were facilitated by the Pax Mongolica, enforcing, as far as possible, peace and a degree of stability across the vast territories under Mongol rule.

Karakorum is strategically located on the most important east-west route across Mongolia, not far from the Orkhon River. This river valley was considered a sacred homeland by steppe peoples who traditionally placed their capitals there, and Turkish, Chinese, Uighur and Sogdian inscriptions from the region, dating from the 8th and 9th centuries AD, suggest that the area had become a flourishing centre not only of local agriculture but also of the cultures of the peoples who lived around the steppe lands.

The Mongol choice of the location for Karakorum was no accident: ecology, political considerations, steppe tradition and local beliefs all came together there. It is undoubtable that the Mongols were aware of the earlier history of the region and built on its legacy.

The population of the city may be interesting to most of you. Karakorum contained a microcosm of the religious diversity of the Mongol empire.  Shamanism, the Mongolian indigenous religion, was practiced, as well as Islam brought by Muslim traders in earlier centuries.  Buddhism was very popular in the city at this time too, as was Nestorian Christianity. You see Ghengis Khan, although a brutal leader that would kill as he expanded his empire, embraced all, and their religions that chose to join him. 

By the time Marco Polo reached China in the early 1270s, the Qubilai Khan had made Beijing the Empire's capital, replacing Karakorum. Yet throughout much of the 14th century it retained a symbolic importance as the city 'founded' by the charismatic founder of the Empire, Genghis Khan. 

Today, Karakorum is the location of one of the important annual Naadam festivals, celebrating Mongolian traditional sports and culture. If the heavy weight of history that filled the air, or the The Erdene Zuu Monastery. A monastery that is probably the earliest surviving Buddhist monastery in Mongolia and is adjacent to the ancient city of Karakorum, it was the Naadam festival that I witnessed that was my favorite thing that I witnessed while there. 

From Karakorum it was time to head west. You would know this area as Outer Mongolia. My destination was Ulgii. A small town in Western Mongolia that hosts the annual Golden Eagle Festival.

The Golden Eagle Festival is a celebration of the ancient art of Falconry on Horseback. The earlies recordings of hunting with Golden Eagles on horseback I could find was in the 12th Century. 

Today, approximately 250 Kazakh men live in the western Mongolia province of Bayan-Olgi and carry on a tradition first depicted by the Khitan archives. This tradition is “horse riding eagle falconry”. The skill of using a Golden Eagle to capture prey while riding through the mountains.
Now, every October, a festival to celebrate the traditions and the craft of eagle hunting on horseback occurs. During this festival up to 70 eagle hunters gather for the annual Kazakh Golden Eagle Festival of Mongolia. And in 2014 participants as young as a 13yr old girl to an 85yr old man showed the intimate crowd the art of golden eagle hunting.

I had the pleasure of witnessing the synchronicity between man (and a girl) and eagle over the course of two entertaining days. Both hunter and eagle showing off the skills needed to once tip the scales between starvation and survival; now showing off the skills to still feed a family, but more to embrace the long standing heritage and show off the prowess of the art of hunting fox.
As I sat there and watched the two work in tandem, I couldn’t help but wonder how close the bond had to be between a wild golden eagle that was taken after birth from a nest and a hunter. Was it a skill that the two mastered together, or was it some pavlovian genetic instinct of the eagle to hunt, combined with man’s superior mind. Was the hunter using training methods of reward so the eagle would hunt?

My answer came to me after closely watching both men and bird during my time living with a Kazakh family in Western Mongolia. There, immersed in the ways of the past, watching the eagle live with the family, I spotted the first of many first tender moments of man and bird.
The bond did not spawn from the birds need to hunt, nor did it come from training, it came from creating a special, and unfathomable respect between a wild bird and a simple man. The man would command, the eagle would listen, instinctively hunt as it has done for centuries, then wait for the hunter to arrive with prey in its talons.

As seen in this photo. The hunter speaks to the Golden Eagle and places his hand on the eagles chest to pet her… and in response, the Golden Eagle nuzzles against the face of her partner and makes a guttural sound as if to respond to the man’s words.

That tender moment between an eagle and a man made this trip more than a visit to a festival, it made this trip an eye opening experience that two beings, normally hunting to survive as competitors, can learn that working together, producing a better life.

It almost made me sad to think that this relationship only lasts 6 to 10 years. After that, the female eagle is released back into the wild so she can breed and live out her life as a wild eagle should. Both hunter and eagle having lived a richer life for the friendship forged.

Before I left Mongolia though, I wanted to see the Przewalski Horse. A horse brought back form the brink of disappearance on earth. 

This stocky, 1.2 m-tall (4 ft.) animal is the only surviving subspecies of horse that has never been domesticated. The horses became known to science in 1879 when a Polish naturalist named Przewalski (pronounced zeh-val-skee) "discovered" a wild herd.

They once inhabited the vast grasslands of central Asia, but beginning in the early 1900s, hunting pressure, competition for grazing land and water, and interbreeding with domestic Mongol ponies contributed to their increasing scarcity.

Despite strict legal protection in Mongolia since 1926, the species became extinct in the wild in the 1960s. Then, in 1992, a successful breeding program that relied on captive animals from zoos around the world was started, and the species has been reintroduced into several Mongolian national parks.

In 2005, the wild populations were estimated at about 300 animals. On my recent trip to Mongolia we talked to a biologist at Hustai National Park and learned the horses are now in the Gobi and in Hustai in self sustaining herds.

For me, trips to Mongolia are not just about the photography. While the photo opportunities are ones that are some of the best I have ever had, it’s the people, the cultural and the jaw dropping landscapes that you drive through to get to the destinations that I love. 

I would love to share this with you. Please have a look at some of the trips I am running in the next couple years with some of my friends. I will be going to Mongolia with Debra Garside, Jeff Wendorff and Andy Williams from Muench Workshops. 

All my Mongolia trips can be seen here on this page. http://www.kevinpepperphotography.com/mongolia-photography-workshops-1

If you have any questions, please reach out and we can answer any questions that you may have.