Seeing woodland animals in their natural habitat is an awe-inspiring sight that must be experienced to truly appreciate its beauty. From the majestic deer roaming the forests to the tiny chipmunks scurrying among the trees, the splendor of wildlife in its native environment is unparalleled. There is something enchanting about witnessing nature in its purest form, and it can be an incredibly moving and spiritual experience. Being able to observe creatures in their natural habitats can also be an incredibly educational experience, as it allows us to gain more knowledge about the species and how they interact with their environments. Seeing woodland animals in their natural habitat can provide a much-needed reminder that humans are not the only inhabitants of this planet, and that we must be respectful stewards of our environment if we want to ensure a healthy future for all creatures.
1. Woodland caribou
Caribou and beaches aren’t usually thought of together, but this photo features a particularly adventurous four-legged animal. In the far background of the image, you can see the woods, a much more suitable home for a caribou, but the foreground is dominated by the beach scene and the animal itself. Its walking with its head tilted slightly forward, almost as though is getting ready to charge. Whatever the caribou’s target might be, however, can’t be seen in this picture. Instead we are left with nothing but the animal itself and the white-gold sand of the beach that its walking on.
2. Grizzly Bear
The bear in this picture looks more relaxed than most people ever get to experience. Here is a perfect example of animals being at one with the natural world around them. This bear has found himself a decent resting place, almost a table, even, and it comes in the form of a fallen chunk of log. The bear doesn’t need much, but the log provides everything all at once. It looks like trees are scarce in this area, making the bear’s discovery of such a perfect place to sit down and take a breather even more serendipitous.
3. Deer posing in the woodlands
These deer are traveling through a clearing in the woods, pacing through the tall grass, but clearly something stopped them mid-journey. Their ears are perked up. These guys are on full alert, their eyes fixed in one place, unwavering, keeping watch for any visible signs of danger. There’s so much life in this picture. It’s easy to imagine all the action that was taking place just before this just was taking, and it’s easy to imagine exactly what will happen next. The deer will run away, hiding back in the forest, finding shelter amidst the thick trees.
4. Red deer
The nature photographer who took this picture was clearly spotted by her subject. That or she made enough noise to attract attention to herself. This lovely horned deer is wandering about, probably snacking on some of the tall grasses that grow vibrantly in this place, but something has pulled her attention away from the food and peace of the space that she’s currently occupying. One can only imagine that this distraction has come in the form of a pesky photography, traipsing through the grasses to get a brilliant shot. The consolation prize is this: The picture is indeed brilliant.
5. Squirrel Central Park
Nature doesn’t have to exist far from home, and this picture proves that effortlessly. Here is a shot of a squirrel, happily tucked away by the roots of a tree, enjoying some kind of meal. Clearly it’s fall, as thick chunks of yellow and orange leaves are scattered across the ground that the squirrel occupies. This isn’t some crazy woodland shot, though. This picture was taken right in the heart of Central Park, a bastion of nature in one of the world’s most developed cities. Clearly human preservation serves some kind of powerful purpose after all.
6. Wild Boar Kiss
Who knows what strange things are going on when two animals communicate. There are signs of what they are trying to convey to one another, surely, but we can’t know for sure what exact information is being exchanged. It’s that lack of possible knowledge that makes this image so intriguing. Two boars here appear to be sharing some kind of intimate moment, a kiss, even, but we can’t be sure that they are communicating love to one another. We can’t be sure of anything at all. Still, the picture is loving and peaceful and perhaps even moving.
7. Roaring deer
Here, captured forever in a picture, is a sight that you don’t just get to see every day. A deer is standing in a field, alone, it’s mouth open wide and head raised, as though this picture was taken mid-shout. Of course, we can’t know what’s really happening here, but the sense of sound forwarded by this picture is incredible. What is the deer calling out for? The possibilities are endless, and this simplicity of this shot lets the enigmatic nature of this moment ring true. The curiosity can fill our brains and delight us all at once.
8. Bear
Bears are thought of as fearsome creatures, monsters that attack campsites and chase innocent people through the forest, trying to savagely rip them limb from limb. This picture, however, doesn’t continue that notion. Instead, the image challenges it. Here we see a skinny looking bear carefully picking its way over a gravely terrain, just outside the cover of forest trees. This bear looks vulnerable, and almost frightened. Surely it wouldn’t attack someone for no reason. In fact, it looks like it could use the help of people, like it could befriend them rather than be an antagonistic beast.
9. Grizzly bear
It’s easy to forget that animals, especially mammals, have family structures that echo our own. This picture brings awareness to that fact by showing us a mother bear and her cub. Both of them are soaking wet, and are wading through a shallow and rocky creek. Clearly they’ve just spent some time getting dinner — fish who swam through the creek but not quite fast enough. Both of the animals look happy, contented, and they obviously are each comforted by the presence of the other. Because at the end of the day, even bears aren’t that different from humans.
10. Badger near its burrow
This is a crystal clear shot that was obviously taken by a very skilled photographer with an excellent camera and a good eye for nature pictures. This badger is unaware that it’s being photographed, but that’s because something else altogether has captured its attention. It is sticking its head just above its burrowing, looking out across the ground in front of it. Judging by how wide the badger’s eyes are at this moment, it’s been taken by surprise. There’s no way of knowing what happened next, but this image is fraught with tension.
11. Wild boar in the forest
When it comes to the world of nature photographer, it’s hard to get any better than a picture taken in a forest during autumn. The vibrancy of the fall colors really adds to the photograph, even if its main subject is unrelated to the season. That’s the case with this picture. The main subject is a young boar who is happily and peacefully trampling through the forest, but the overall picture is made even more delightful by the thick coating of fire-y colored leaves that covers the forest floor. These bring a whole new life to an already exciting picture.
12. Wolf with cubs
Here’s a vulnerable moment for animals caught on camera. There’s so much love and wonder in this one simple picture. We can see a family of wolves traveling through a forest — judging by the green leaves everywhere, it must be the middle of summer. The wolves are padding along their way, there’s three of them in total. The adult is on the lookout, making sure that the cubs remain safe at all times. The cubs themselves are looking all around the forest, clearly curious about their surroundings, which are still new and fresh for them.
13. Beautiful owl
The owls in this photograph seem at peace with their surroundings, though it is painfully apparent that they don’t live the same free lives as many other animals do. This picture shows us the natural world, in the form of the animals, but it doesn’t shy away from the fact that humans have massively impacted that world. The entire background of the image is a sea of green that is clearly blocked off from the owls by the sharp gray steel of a chain link fence. The owls have their own habitat, but it isn’t a natural one.
14. Beautiful owl in a forest
This owl is absolutely gorgeous. Most of its feathers are a shining white down, but interlaced throughout that breathtaking sheen are lines of brown that serve both as accents to the white and as creators of a vibrant pattern. The owl is staring almost angrily into the camera’s lens, as though it’s upset to have the normal structure of its day interrupted by the presence of a photographer trying to immortalize this moment of natural life. Still, one eye remains half-closed, so that the owl can be fully prepared to go right back to sleep once this moment passes.
15. Lynx in the forest
It’s hard to decide what is most eye catching in this picture, the lynx that serves as its subject and centerpiece, or the incredible ghostly scattering of colors and light that comprises the entire background of the image. That background looks almost like a watercolor painting, and it is stunning when juxtaposed to the very real, very “photographic” quality of the lynx in this picture. The animal itself looks so alive, as though even now it’s preparing to leap out of the picture, into your home and office, where it can stalk and explore a whole new area.
16. Beaver chewing a piece of apple
If you’ve ever wondered what perfect satisfaction looks like, this picture will show it to you. Here we see a beaver with thick brown, nearly black, fur that’s entirely soaked with water, lending the beaver a slick-but-dense look that it couldn’t possibly have if it was dry and on land. Ripples of whatever extend outward from the beaver, a permanent disruption in this lake’s flow. The beaver himself, though, is hardly disrupted at all. It’s found an apple, and is floating in the water, chewing peacefully and happily at its new, tasty snack.
17. Eagle
This picture was excellently timed. An eagle is lifting off into the air. Its wings are, magnificently, spread wide, making this bird look as large as possible. The appearance is both stunning and frightening. Here is an animal of undeniable power and grace, and that’s not something that you get to see every single day of your life. The lack of detail in the rest of the photograph helps to emphasize this sense of the eagle being fully worthy of your full attention. What’s really charming, though, is the eagle’s feet. This picture was taken in the instant before they release the log, sending the bird into the air.
18. Raccoon In Tree
Some pictures are capable of making you feel an intense emotion, or emotional connection to whatever it is you are seeing. Other pictures are able to bring personality and a human sense of “life” to things that aren’t at all human. This picture, featuring a raccoon somewhat comfortable tucked into a crevice in a great big tree, manages to do both of those things at once. The raccoon’s eyes are the standout feature of this photograph. They shimmer and shine with beauty, but also with pain, and that pain is what humanizes the animal and makes you feel empathy for it.
19. Great Spotted Woodpecker
This picture is so much more than an action shot of a woodpecker and its ongoing, yet futile, quest to fell a tree. The colors of this picture are strange and twisting, and they almost seem to be carried forward by brushstrokes, giving this photograph a uniquely painted feeling that nicely accents the natural scene it depicts. The entire picture seems more organic because of the way that colors and outlines meld together, all becoming one, just as the woodpecker has, in a way, become one with the tree that it is so dedicated to eventually destroying.
20. Portrait Elk
A chilly photograph. The elk that serves as the picture’s subject is standing amidst all that snow, staring into the heart of the camera and the face of the photographer. The background of trees telescopes out from behind the elk. All of the trees look similar enough, tall, thin, grayish brown and lightly coated in snow, that they blend together into a general “sense” of the forest that serves to enclose this entire scene,wrapping it all around you as you look on, so that you begin to feel the same chill that the elk must feel.
21. Canadian female Duck With Camouflage
Ducks are usually thought of in ponds or lakes, floating around and making obnoxious sounds all day long while waiting for children to come by and throw little chunks of bread at them. This photograph doesn’t satisfy that idea, but it’s no less pleasurable to look at for being different. Here we see a duck in mid-flight, and there’s a sense of freedom that comes from this. There’s also a certain sense of danger. The duck is flying right into the forest, meaning that it will have to maneuver quickly and carefully, but it seems sure in its path.
22. Mountain goat
This picture manages to give you the sense of a particular animal while also viscerally placing you in its environment. The goat that is the main focus of the photo is pushed into the leftmost third of the frame, and it’s cocked head speaks either of childish curiosity or age-old wisdom. In the background a massive lake can be seen, and surely this is where the goat gets most of its drinking water. Far, far behind the lake lie giant mountains, looming over the entire scene, but doing so peacefully, even benevolently. This is where the goat lives.
23. Lynx
The lynx in this picture are on the lookout. Now, whether they are scouting out prey or watching for some potential attacker is unclear, but every member of this slightly unconventional feline family has their eyes wide open, and they’re all looking in one direction or another. There’s a forceful velocity to this image that comes entire from skillful focusing. The lynx are arranged in a line, and they get steadily more and more out of focus as the line shoots deeper into the forest. This pulls you out through the forest as a viewer, putting you right in their world.
24. Deer in sunset in the forest
One of the most magnificent deer images to every be captured. Here we see a massive, very impressive buck, it’s antlers spread wide, standing in a gap between two segments of trees. It’s twilight, and just behind the deer the sun is setting, but it’s still early enough that the deer hasn’t yet been entirely silhouetted. This gives the animal a ghostly appearance, as though it’s only really half there, and indeed the entire scene depicted in the image only seems half real, as though everything that can be seen is just rising up out of a dream.
25. Wolf pack
Here we see a pack of fully grown wolves, all on their feet, and all clearly full of energy. Unfortunately for them, that energy can carry them so far. What is at first glance a gorgeous nature shot becomes something altogether more complicated upon closer inspection. The far left part of the image reveals that the wolves are actually trapped in an enclosure — there won’t be any running or hunting for them. This picture shows us just how much energy nature has, and exactly how much humanity has constricted and contained that energy, refusing to let it act.
26. Large Brown Bear fishing
Here we can see a bear in the act of catching its own dinner. The bear is in mid-leap, standing in the middle of a rapid flow of water. Spray is flying everywhere, and the bear’s coat of fur has been dampened by the water around it. Presumably just beneath the white and foamy surface of the water is a large fish that the bear will be munching on. This picture gives viewers the feeling of all that momentum and dedication, all that singular focus, that the bear must have in order to catch its dinner.
