Four Japanese, or Red-crowned Cranes, dance across a snowy field in Japan.

A male Western Tanager perches upon a Golden Currant.

Two male Arctic Foxes compete over one female who escapes their attention.

A young Burrowing Owl emerges from the nest at about 10 days old.

A Northern Hawk Owl hovers over potential prey.

Snowy Owls are mostly nocturnal during the winter and frequently hunt unsuspecting seabirds.

Migratory and irruptive Snowy Owls spend winters in places that look much like their tundra breeding habitat. These are often broad, open and grassy places near the ocean or other water.

A juvenile Great Gray Owl hunts alongside a slow moving river.

Once Great Gray Owls leave the nest, they must climb snags and leaning trees to reach safety off of the ground.

A red-morph Northern Pygmy-Owl takes a momentary break before resuming his efforts to dig up cached prey.

A Northern Pygmy-Owl hunts from the limb of an aspen.

A Snowy Owl waits for the sun to set so that it can begin its hunting.

Six juvenile Burrowing Owls wait for a prey delivery at the entrance to their nest.

Two badger kits await a meal at the entrance to their den.

A juvenile Snowy Owl perches upon a tombstone just outside of an Arctic village.

Jaguar siblings rest together along the banks of a Brazilian river.

Two Polar Bears play along the ANWR coastal plain.

An Acorn Woodpecker prepares to take flight and take an acorn to its granary.

A female Snowy Owl arrives at her nest to look after her owlets.

A White-tailed Ptarmigan, Lagopus leucura, raises his head from his hiding place under the snow.

A juvenile Great Gray Owl hunts voles from a fence-post in a mountain meadow.

Two Red-throated Loons pass each other as they hunt for fish in a tundra pond.

Three young Great Horned Owls emerge from their cliffside-nest.

A group of Sandhill Cranes settle down for the night on a wetland, which provides safety and an early warning if predators should approach during the night.

Three Snowy Owls engage with one another with the Cascade Mountains looming in the background.

A Sandhill Crane lowers her head to preen the feathers on her breast.

An Arctic Fox prances across the Arctic tundra.

Boreal Owls leave the nest before they are able to fly, sometimes ending up on the ground before climbing leaning trees and snags.

A Bohemian Waxwing pauses among crab-apples in Manitoba.

A Bullock’s Oriole surveys the landscape from a Golden Currant.

Great Gray Owls travel great distances south or downslope during the winter when they may be found in unusual places such as farmlands and ranches.

A Northern Pygmy Owl fledgling hangs from a Douglas Fir branch that has tipped from his weight.

Two Arctic Foxes brave endure the chilly Arctic wind as they look for prey at dusk.

A Snowy Owl hunts with the sun at his back in the Canadian Boreal.

A Northern Hawk Owl snaps from a perched position into a dive. Northern Hawk Owls possess keen eyesight, allowing them to locate prey the size of a vole from a half- mile away.

A family of Sandhill Cranes wakes at sunrise before one of the parents leaves the safety of the island to hunt for food.

A female Pygmy Owl pops up to fill the nest cavity entrance, where she calls for her mate to deliver food.

A Burrowing Owl balances atop an old sage brush snag. Elevated isolated perches are nescessary habitat elements in the grassy, open landscape.

A Snowy Owl divers towards potential prey from its driftwood perch.

Snow Buntings are the first bird to arrive and sing on the Arctic tundra.

The Boreal Region circles the globe just below the Arctic tundra and just above the temperate zone.

A female Snowy Owl’s returns to her nest to look after young.

A Snowy Owl lifts her body nearly straight up off driftwood and into the air after spotting prey in the distance. Snowy Owls use strong wingbeats to hunt even in the most powerful winds.

A male Townsend’s Warbler calls to other warblers from a pond where he is bathing.

A Great Gray Owl hunts from the bare branches of a willow at the edge of a meadow.

Five Snowy Owls roost on a Pacific Northwest beach with Mount Baker looming in the background.

Ptarmigan are social birds, particularly during the winter, when large groups travel and hide under the snow near one another.

A Polar Bear and her two cubs swim by the light of the moon.

Snowy Owls are North America’s heaviest owls and must generate great force with their long wings to take flight directly from the ground.

Northern Spotted Owls are an endangered owl that inhabits ancient forests with cathedral-like canopies where rays of the sun sift through several canopies before reaching the moist, mossy ground.

A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker tracks the path of a wasp attracted to his sapwell before dispatching him with a quick snap of the bill.

A Great Gray Owl owlet, 2 weeks out of the nest, pauses before choosing another tree to climb.

A group of Snowy Owls, also known as a parliament, gathers on a coastal beach.

A male Gray-crowned Rosy-finch pauses for a moment atop a spruce bow.

A juvenile Northern Saw-whet Owl peers from its nest cavity in preparation for fledging.

Within days of leaving the nest, cavity nesting owls, like these rare Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls, spend a great deal of time peering out of their nest cavities.

A Black-capped Chickadee kicks snow off of a Yarrow seed head before flying back to seize the seeds.

A White-tailed Ptarmigan, Lagopus leucura, runs across the snow without sinking, thanks to large feathered feet.

An Annas Hummingbird nestling clings to the lip of the nest to avoid being knocked out by its sibling testing its wings.

A Polar Bear looks for food from the top of a whale jaw along the ANWR Coastal plain.

A Great Gray Owl flies low over a mountain meadow in the Candian Rockies where it is hunting gophers and voles.

Fledgling Owls, like this six week old Northern Hawk Owl are constantly begging for food.

Short-eared Owls often fly past mountains on the way to open, treeless landscapes where they nest and winter.

Short-eared Owls can be seen during the late afternoons, but they become most active after the sun sets.

A male Western Tanager sings from a lichen covered branch.

The Cascade fox is a race endemic to the Cascade Mountains.

A Western Meadowlark calls to potential mates.

A Great Gray Owl flys from fence-post to fence-post as it looks for prey.

Great Gray Owls posess distinctive facial disks that allow them to precisely locate their prey using hearing alone.

Several Sage Grouse males display in competition for the right to mate with females.

Two fledgling Northern Saw-whet Owls perch under the canopy of a cottonwood tree.

A Snowy Owl takes flight from fresh snow.

A Great Gray Owl perches on a Lodgpole Pine sapling alone in the middle of a meadow of Camas and Groundsel.

Three Pacific Loons float accross a tundra pond.

A Cedar Waxwing perches among the berries of a Saskatoon, aka Serviceberry.

Five Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls perch on a oak limb the day after fledging.

A Varied Thrush feasts upon high-bush cranberries poking above the snow.

Two Arctic Foxes playfully bite on another.

Northern Hawk Owls often hunt from the top of spruce trees, where their keen eyesight allows them to spot prey the size of a mouse from over a half-mile away.

A Boreal Owl rests among twinflowers. Later this owl will have to climb a leaning tree or snag to get off of the dangerous ground.