Thank you so much for all the great comments and votes. I feel so honoured. :)
Well, these are two wolves. The white one really is the alpha wolf. It is presently breeding season so some of the other males are getting put in their place if they show interest in a female. (only the alpha male and alpha female are allowed to mate in a pack)
I have had lots of questions on where my wolf shots were taken. Here is the deal:
They were taken at the Haliburton Forest Wolf Center. Essentially it is on the edge of Algonquin Park and they have their own pack of 7 Grey Wolves. They are in a 15 acre enclosure. If they really wanted to they could get out because they could jump the fences in the winter time.
They work hard to keep the wolves wild. What they do is they feed them irregularly like they would in the wild. They usually get fed once every 7 to 10 days. They are fed mostly beaver (local trappers take the pelt and donate the rest of the beaver, guts and all) or white tail deer or moose which is usually road kill. These are given to them whole, just like in the wild so they eat the skin, fur, bones, everything.
The wolf center is a building with lots of wolf photos, even some skeletons for learning purposes etc...everything wolf.
At one side you can enter a large room which has 3 windows which are likely 10 feet high by 12 feet wide which look out onto the wolf enclosure. The windows face out onto a hill which is partially cleared so that the wolves like to spend time there sunning themselves. The glass is one-way so that the wolves cannot see the people looking at them. They can definitely hear you though. They would run back into the forest if they actually seen you, but have learned to ignore the sounds coming from the building.
It is a pain in the butt shooting through glass because of reflections and because the one way coating really hurts the sharpness and messes the colour balance of the shots...so it is tough to shoot there.
So basically you get a glimpse into the world of wild wolves. :) They sometimes come right up to the windows, although they are usually way up on the hill pretty much out of range and in the trees. Sometimes they come down an you get photo ops. This one was possible because it is mating time for the pack, so there is lots of action going on. The white wolf is in fact the Alpha.
It is certainly a semi-controlled shooting situation but definately not like a zoo where the animals are not really wild and are just pacing nervously around. These animals exhibit their normal wild behaviours because they really are wild.
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Amaaaaazing capture! I would not have had the presence of mind to stop and take a photo lol. I think I might have been running hehe. Congrats on the ribbon!
Another superb image,the slight blurring in the shot only helps to get the speed and power of these amazing animals.You are lucky to have such a great place to visit and see them close up,look forward to many more of your Wolf photos.Keep up the good work.
Congratulations on both wins! Wolves are a facinating and gorgeous animal - and not nearly the heartless creature they're usually made out to be. Awesome photos - Gotta love the wolves!
This is a fascinating shot - so intense and real. Awesome job shooting through glass. Thanks for the story! And of course, many congratulations on your ribbon.
congrats on such an awesome action shot ... interesting all the stuff you wrote about the enclosure and how they've kept them as close to wild as they can be considering they're not actually in the open country and are fenced in .. shooting thru the glass you've done a brilliant job both with your photography and processing . :)
I hope the upper left don't take any points from you because it's OOF, kind of blurry. This image is one of the bests in the "meeting challenge" aspect and i really like the colors. Hope they were playing. Good luck!
Composition and subject matter are great, really like it. A couple of things need improvement, imo: Color and the motion blur of the top dog. Not that motion blur in this case is bad, but I think it's a bit excessive here. Perhaps a tighter crop too.
Never Challenge the Alpha Wolf!
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