Description

How do you see 17 moose in one morning from a few meters away without scaring them off?  Not easy when you are dealing with one of the most skittish and secluded animals out there.

First you go to a place where they are plentiful and get up very early in the morning.  Then you travel far into the backcountry and most importantly you approach them in a manner they don’t associate with humans.

Our canoe trip to Hailstorm Creek in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada met all these criteria and so brought us up close with an unprecedented number of moose. They might not be the most beautiful animal but when you see them when they are at ease, they have beautiful grace to them.  Because their awkward appearance they are often overlooked as a photographic subject and if not, most will focus on the big bull moose with the great antlers.  The female moose is almost always forgotten, but that morning in the canoe, they showed me a sight I hadn’t seen before.  Friendly, calm and graceful.  Completely different from the on-alert, skittish animal that you catch a glimpse of sometimes on a trail or from a vantage point.

Canon 40D, 275mm, 1/160s at f5,6, ISO 200

Hailstorm Creek, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada