Skip to content

Home
Projects
Portfolio
About
Contact

Portfolio

National Parks

Cape Lookout National Seashore Portfolio

Cape Lookout National Seashore 2 Portfolio

Great Sand Dunes Portfolio

Yellowstone National Park Grand Prismatic

Great Sand Dunes National Park Colorado Sunset

Great Sand Dunes 2 Portfolio

Blue Ridge Parkway 2 Portfolio

Blue Ridge Parkway 4 Portfolio

Grand Teton National Park Vanlife

Glacier National Park Portfolio

Wildlife

Osprey Grand Teton National Park

Cascade Red Fox Whitefoot Vulpes Vulpes Cascadensis

Yellow Crowned Night Heron Portfolio

Cascade Red Fox Black-Phase Mount Rainier National Park

Wild Stallion Wyoming

Great Egret in Breeding Plumage

Yellow Headed Blackbird Colorado

Instagram

gretchenkaystuart

Cleo and Opie love each other... I promise! 😆 W

Cleo and Opie love each other... I promise! 😆 We were distracted with hiking, eating good food, and late night art projects, so I missed the perfect light for farm animal pics, but I got some hilarious and adorable shots of the pups the next morning! (Minus Sugar who was sleeping in Elle’s room at the time.) Thanks again, @elleking and @tattooker for all the Santa Fe fun. You’re the sweetest soulmates I ever did meet!

A (Red-Backed) Dark-Eyed Junko - As I travel, I lo

A (Red-Backed) Dark-Eyed Junko
-
As I travel, I love finding Audubon Centers to explore. Randall Davey did not disappoint! Amazing trails and more birds than I’ve ever seen in one sanctuary. Thanks, Santa Fe!
-
Camera: #Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens: EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6
-
#darkeyedjunko #randalldaveyauduboncenter #santafe #newmexico #audubonsociety #audubonnm #wildlifephotography #birdphotography #birdwatching #naturephotography #nuts_about_birds #birdsandblooms #mycanonstory #yourshotphotographer

Happy Fall from the Tetons! - #grandtetons #grandt

Happy Fall from the Tetons!
-
#grandtetons #grandtetonnationalpark #mygrandteton #wyoming #leavenotrace #nationalparkgeek #yourshotphotographer #naturephotography #landscapephotograpy #puregoldceo #promo #canonfanphoto

A Sooty Grouse foraging through Mount Rainier’s

A Sooty Grouse foraging through Mount Rainier’s Broadleaf Lupine.
-
Camera: #Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens: EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6
-
#sootygrouse #grouse #mountrainier #mountrainiernationalpark #audubonsociety #wildlifephotography #birdphotography #birdwatching #naturephotography #nuts_about_birds #nationalparkgeek #earthcapture #birdsandblooms #canonusa #yourshotphotographer #natgeowild

Pretty little fox food. 🐿🦊💕 - #yellowpine

Pretty little fox food. 🐿🦊💕
-
#yellowpinechipmunk #chipmunk #mountrainier #mountrainiernationalpark #nationalparkservice #nationalparkgeek #leavenotrace #keepwildlifewild #nuts_about_squirrels @nuts_about_squirrels #wildlifephotography #bbcwildlifepotd #naturephotography @canonusa #teamcanon #yourshotphotographer #natgeowild

This post may break your heart a little and... wel

This post may break your heart a little and... well... that’s kind of the point: to etch a lasting, impactful reminder into your brain. One that will conquer the urge of giving in to those adorable, helpless, pitiful looking eyes of a wild animal staring at you while you eat your snacks. Don’t beat yourself up! Many of us have caved before we knew better. But now you’re aware: fed wildlife = dead wildlife.
-
This is the tragic story of one of Whitefoot’s kits from her last litter in 2018. Whitefoot (the stunning cross-phase fox seen in my posts from this June/July) is the matriarch Cascade Red Fox of Paradise in Mount Rainier. She has been fed by tourists over the years, and as a result raised her kits next to the road, teaching them her tricks of begging from passing vehicles who stop to admire them. Not only is human food incredibly unhealthy for wild carnivores, luring them into the road increases the likelihood of fatal car strikes — something a subspecies facing extinction can’t afford to risk.
-
Thankfully, this kit’s life didn’t completely go to waste. After being necropsied and frozen for a couple of years, he ended up at the Burke Museum in Seattle where his DNA has been stored, and his skeleton and skin have been prepped to be used for research over the years to come.
-
In the photos:
1 Whitefoot’s kit is thawed and ready for prep at the Burke Museum where the process is viewed by visitors from behind a glass wall.
2 A family watches from the viewing area as Mammalogy Collections Manager, Jeff Bradley, begins the meticulous job of separating the kit’s skin from muscle.
3 After separation is complete, the skin is washed with shampoo-like soap and water, wrung out, and dried in a tumbler with sawdust to absorb moisture.
4 The clean skin is then combed over with a toothbrush to remove sawdust and inspected for bits of flesh that may have been missed.
5 Next, the kit will be sewn and stuffed, resulting in a study skin similar to the Red Fox pictured in the lower left corner.
-
#burkemuseum #seattle #cascaderedfox #vulpesvulpescascadensis #redfox #mountrainier #mammalogy #keepwildlifewild #wildlifeconservation #natgeointhefield

Kayla Dreher, a Biological Science Technician at M

Kayla Dreher, a Biological Science Technician at Mount Rainier National Park, finds Cascade Red Fox hair caught on a twig at the entrance to a den. The hair is put in a paper bag (which helps preserve DNA over moisture retaining plastic bags) and marked with coordinate information to be documented and lab tested.
-
DNA lab testing is used to identify individuals and obtain a count of existing Cascade Red Fox needed in order to qualify them for the WA Threatened and Endangered Species list. Once elevated to that list, appropriate funding may be granted to put toward further research and efforts in saving the subspecies.
-
*Coordinate numbers in pic swapped around a bit with Photoshop in order to protect the foxes and their dens. 😉
-
#cascaderedfox #cascadescarnivore #mountrainiernationalpark #mountrainier #nationalparkservice #nationalparkgeek #leavenotrace #keepwildlifewild #wildlifeconservation #conservationphotography #wildlifephotography #yourshotphotographer #natgeointhefield

I had an exciting day checking camera traps aimed

I had an exciting day checking camera traps aimed at Cascade Red Fox dens with Kayla Dreher, a Biological Science Technician at Mount Rainier National Park. The best part... one of the cameras captured the fox who inspired my current conservation photography project: Whitefoot!
-
Whitefoot is a very old fox and I haven’t seen her in a couple of months, so I was thrilled to find that she’s still alive and thriving in Paradise. WooHoo!
-
In the photos: Kayla connects the SD card from the camera trap to her phone to check the images and see whether the den is active.
-
#whitefootfox #cascaderedfox #cascadescarnivore #mountrainiernationalpark #nationalparkservice #nationalparkgeek #leavenotrace #keepwildlifewild #wildlifeconservation #conservationphotography #wildlifephotography #yourshotphotographer #natgeointhefield

A sweet moment between marmots. - One of my favori

A sweet moment between marmots.
-
One of my favorite things about spending time in nature is observing wildlife behavior such as this. A reminder that humans are far from the only species that form bonds, love their families, have individual personalities, communicate with each other, and feel a wide spectrum of emotions: fear, joy, grief, peace...
-
#marmots #marmot #mountrainier #mountrainiernationalpark #pnw #nationalparkservice #nationalparkgeek #leavenotrace #keepwildlifewild #wildlifeconservation #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #bbcwildlifepotd #mycanonstory #yourshotphotographer #natgeowild

A Robin finding seeds in a grassy meadow. Even the

A Robin finding seeds in a grassy meadow. Even the most common creatures can make a pretty picture!
-
#americanrobin #robin #pnw #mountrainer #audubonsociety #wildlifephotography #birdphotography #birdwatching #naturephotography #nuts_about_birds #birdsandblooms #mycanonstory #yourshotphotographer

I crossed paths with this healthy looking billie o

I crossed paths with this healthy looking billie on a hazy sunset hike in Mount Rainier this week. He’s been claiming a large section of Paradise as home all summer, and has been a majestic addition to the views from the trail.
-
*Image captured with a #Canon zoom lens. Please give wildlife space and never feed them. Thanks!
-
#mountaingoat #mountrainier #mountrainiernationalpark #nationalparkservice #nationalparkgeek #leavenotrace #keepwildlifewild #wildlifeconservation #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #mycanonstory #teamcanon #yourshotphotographer #natgeowild

Happy with a belly full of voles, Snag uses shrubb

Happy with a belly full of voles, Snag uses shrubbery as a cushion to groom himself post-meal. Pic 2 shows off his abnormally long canine tooth, for which his name was derived.
-
*Images captured with #Canon zoom lens. Please give wildlife space and never feed them. Thanks!
-
#cascaderedfox #blackphasefox #vulpesvulpes #vulpesvulpescascadensis #mountrainier #mountrainiernationalpark #nationalparkservice #nationalparkgeek #leavenotrace #keepwildlifewild #wildlifeconservation #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #redfox #mycanonstory #yourshotphotographer #natgeowild

Follow on Instagram

Web Design and Photography: Copyright © 2020 Gretchen Kay Stuart