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Steve Williamson Wildlife Photography - Photography
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Brown Snake Eagle
Here’s another one of the several spectacular species of raptor I managed to see whilst in Tanzania last year - the Brown Snake Eagle (Circaetus cinereus). As their name suggests, they have a preference for snakes which they will snatch up after waiting patiently on a high perch, but they will also eat other small…
Male Rufous 2
I miss seeing these little guys and I used to see and photograph them quite regularly, so it’s hard to believe we haven’t featured one on here since 2020! This is a male rufous hummingbird and these tiny birds would often start arriving in our garden in BC from late March having undertaken a long…
Pearly Whites
It seems that for this portrait this grizzly bear was showing us his ‘pearly whites’, but really he was just chewing some sedge. Not heard much these days, but the term ‘pearly whites’ is an old English term referring to teeth, which dates back to a time when good, ‘pearl’ white teeth, were seen as…
Sausage Tree
Here we have the oddly named ‘Sausage Tree’ (Kigelia africana). This tree, which can reach a height of around 20 metres, is a popular source of shade for wildlife on hot days. However, if you ever find yourself underneath one be careful of falling fruits - at around 13kg they can hurt! The long sausage…
Out For A Paddle
You’d be forgiven if on first glance you thought this was a black bear, especially considering how dark and wet this grizzly bear's coat is. But this splendid looking guy was paddling along a creek looking for salmon on the Alaska/British Columbia border when I spied him early one September morning. He looks like he’s…
Termite Mound
Mound-building Termites - not the most lovable of critters, especially if they’re in your property, but out in the wild like the Tanzanian savannah, you have to admire their ingenuity and architecture. These termite mounds can take several years to construct and reach over four metres in height, but they serve their colonies (which may…
A Caper White
The African Caper White (Belenois aurota aurota) is a fairly common mid-sized butterfly found in southern and eastern Africa with similar cousins found across the Middle-east and into India. Colloquially it may go by any one of several names such as the pioneer white or the brown-veined white. Towards the end of summer, thousands can…
A Mother’s Eye
Standing on the side of a river, fishing for salmon, this black bear momma looks up and casts her eye on the surroundings, no doubt a safety check in case of other bears. Soon after she was back scanning the river for fish before taking another ducking in the hope of catching a pink. All…
Puffin March
It is so intriguing watching these little guys beavering around whilst they are ashore for the nesting season. When they’re on the march from one spot to another like this they just look so determined, in a rush and focused on what they are doing and where they are going. The Atlantic Puffin comes ashore…
Lake Natron
This shot, featuring two Great White Pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus) and a flock of Lesser Flamingos (Phoeniconaias minor) was taken just after sunrise at Lake Natron in Northern Tanzania. A little over 1,000 square kilometres in size and only three metres deep, Lake Natron is a unique ‘alkaline lake’ sitting at around 600 metres above sea…
Supper With A Star
Here we see one of the ‘Star’ sisters chowing down on some still fresh Lyngby’s sedge. Even though this picture was take some ten years after I first encountered the Star sisters and their mum - the Queen of the Khutz - they are still quite easily recognized thanks to the unique markings on their…
Top and Tail
Humpbacks - one of the worlds most observed and impressive whales. Here we get to see a top and tail view of two of the leviathans in a northern British Columbia inlet. One just surfacing with its impressive blow glistening in the sun, whilst the second, what looks to be a youngster, is just making…
Cave Bear!
Well, this obviously isn’t a ‘real’ cave bear, but a young black bear emerging from his small cave were he liked to head for to eat his salmon in safety, you can just see some remains in the cave behind him. Real ‘cave bears’ (Ursus spelaeus), long since extinct, were probably at least twice the…
Fisher’s Lovebirds
The Fisher’s Lovebird (Agapornis fischeri) is a small, colourful parrot that was originally to be found in Southern Kenya and Tanzania, but nowadays there are occasional sightings across Southern Europe and the Middle East - primarily thought to be from escaped or released captive birds. They do have a similar looking cousin, the ‘Yellow-collared lovebird’ but…
The Toe-biter!
I saw this guy one evening whilst out looking for osprey. It was about fifty or sixty metres away across a gravel area and at first I thought it was just a leaf blowing in the wind. However, closer inspection and this ‘Giant Water Bug’ (Lethocerus americanus) was revealed. I couldn’t get over the size…
Sad Looking Momma
Here we see a rather sad and very wet looking momma grizzly bear - who also had two wet and hungry cubs of the year with her out along the BC coast. For the preceding 24 hours the area had been absolutely drenched with a torrential downpour and the nearby river was close to bursting…
Eurasian Bee-eater
The Eurasian Bee-eater (Merops apiaster) is the most widely dispersed member of the bee-eater family (there are around 25), ranging from Portugal eastwards to western China and from parts of Denmark south through Africa to South Africa, including occasional sightings in the UK. I had a very brief encounter with this guy whilst in Tanzania…
Ma’o
Ma’o is the idyllic Hawaiian name for the colourful ‘Hawaiian cotton’ (Gossypium tomentosum) plant which is found on all the main islands of Hawaii, but funnily enough not on the island of ‘Hawaii’ itself. A beautiful bright yellow flower when in bloom, the Ma’o is a true native wild cotton plant that can grow upwards…
Leopard Prowl
Here’s another shot of the beautiful feline seen in the original ‘Leopard’ post from last April. On this occasion she had stood up from her resting position to turn around before laying back down as seen in the earlier post. Whilst doing so, she spotted a bird on a nearby branch and adopted this impressive…
Painted Turtle
The Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) is the only freshwater turtle found in British Columbia where this shot was taken. Exact numbers in BC are not known, but the strongest population is thought to exist in the Kootenay region’s Kikomun Creek Provincial Park, which is estimated to have around 800 to 900 turtles. British Columbia (and…
Secretarybird
Often when you think of a bird of prey you think of hook billed raptors soaring overhead looking for food down below. This preconceived image makes it hard for us to imagine the Secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius) as a member of this elitist species of birds, but they are. These long legged, gangly birds of prey…
Shore Walking Spirit
Hot on the heels of the 2015 post - here's another 'Christmas Spirit' to finish off the year.Someone asked about spirit bears recently and although I haven’t come across any for a few years now, I thought I’d check out some older files of them and whilst looking through I spotted this previously unpublished shot…
Slumber Party
Here we see a bloat of hippos getting some rest after making it back to their favourite watering hole before sunrise. But on our way from the hippo hotspot we came across one girl (below) who was late getting back from her night out on the town. She certainly had right of way whilst crossing…
Lilac-breasted Roller
Lit up in the early morning sun, the colours on this spectacular bird look fantastic. Endemic to Africa, the Lilac-breasted Roller (Coracias caudatus) can be found across the Eastern and Southern sub-Saharan parts of the continent, including Tanzania, where this shot came from and they are also the national bird of Kenya. There are many…
Fever Tree Pond Scene
The Fever Tree (Vachellia xanthopholea) is fairly common in marshy or swampy areas and other wetlands and can be found from Kenya down to South Africa. It was given its name thanks to early missionaries and others that lived or stayed in areas in which the tree was to be found. High numbers of them…
Ruppell’s Griffon Vulture
Although I haven’t featured any yet, I encountered many vultures of four different sub-species whilst in Tanzania earlier this year. Not quite the largest, but at around 40 inches tall, this Ruppell's Griffon Vulture (Gyps rueppelli) (named after a German zoologist in the early 1800’s) was certainly one of the most intimidating that I came…
You Can Do It!
Have you ever been a spectator at an event and found yourself determinedly wishing for a participant to succeed? The sort of feeling where you can hear yourself in your head saying “go on, go on, you can do it”? Well, just look at the expressions on the faces of these two small grizzly bear…
Maui Postcard
Here’s a follow-up and gentle reminder to the November 2019 post ‘Maui Visitors’. Here we see a mother humpback whale and her calf breaching together. It’s probably nothing of the sort, but we and our guide at the time liked to think that perhaps it was one of the young calf’s first breaching lessons from…
River Sentinels
Perched on a washed out tree root in the middle of the Khutzeymateen river, these two bald eagles, probably a nesting pair, sit like sentinels on guard over the river. Of course they are not really on guard, but are actually on the lookout for fish, more over, hoping for some salmon swimming by.
Cape Buffalo
After encountering a certain species of bovine during a visit to Yellowstone National Park in the US back in 2016 the question was asked Buffalo or Bison? The answer then of course was bison, but today we have a true buffalo, the Cape Buffalo (Syncerus cafer cafer) one of four sub-species of African Buffalo. The…