Today is World Photography Day, and to celebrate, we’re going to learn some tips on how to capture amazing wildlife images near you! Wildlife photographers work hard to capture beautiful animal images in their natural habitats without disturbing them. Sometimes, when they’re on assignment, camped out in disguises called “blinds,” they can sit and wait for animals for hours, even days! This means that they need to have patience and a great understanding of their subjects in order to capture beautiful images of them. Do you think you have what it takes to become a wildlife photographer?

For today’s eco-activity, let’s learn how to take amazing wildlife photos! Since World Photography Day and World Honey Bee Day line up perfectly with each other, today your assignment is to take a photo of one of our pollinator pals! 

What you will need

• A phone or camera 
• A wild place close by with lots of areas for pollinators 

Tips for taking awesome photos!

• Make sure your subject is in focus. On a camera, this means either using the auto-focus settings, or if you’re in manual focus mode, adjusting the focus ring. Making sure that your subject is crisp and clear in the image is important for capturing a great photo! If you’re using a phone with a touch screen, you can tap on your subject before taking your photo to make sure that they’re in focus.

• Think about the foreground and the background of the picture, not just your subject. What’s in front and what’s behind your subject? Being attentive to your surroundings and framing your subject with a beautiful foreground and background can be the difference between an ok photo and a great one!

• Make your subject stand out! You can do this in many different ways. One way is by framing your subject so that there’s room wherever they’re going! If you’re taking a photo of an insect for instance, and they’re walking to the right, leave a little extra room on the right so that you can tell where your multi-legged friend is heading. This will help them stand out and draw the eye to your subject! You can also do this by using what’s called “depth of field” on a camera. By shooting at a low depth of field, you’re making sure that only your subject is in focus, and the background is blurry. This makes your subject stand out even more. Try using portrait mode on your phone if it has it for the same effect!

The Earth Rangers App is where kids go to save animals! It’s free to join and you’ll have access to real-world Missions like this one. Plus, you can adopt an animal to support conservation projects, and learn all about animals in the Wild Wire Blog. Find activities like this, and so much more in the App!

The great grizzly bear is a magnificent and strong creature; huge paws, sharp claws, and pointy teeth. Despite their strength, and lack of predators, grizzly bears are still under threat all across North America due to habitat loss, poaching and climate change. Grizzly bears require a large habitat range to roam, which is why they feel the effects of a disappearing habitat owing to human development. In order to help out our grizzly bear buddies, it’s important to learn about them and the issues they face. Try to solve this grid of grizzly vocab to learn a little bit about these special bears.

Answer Key

If you want to take action to protect these magnificent creatures, adopt your very own grizzly bear today! By purchasing a grizzly bear plush adoption kit, you help Earth Rangers, The Youssef-Warren Foundation (TYWF) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) support a team of biologists studying grizzly bears in the Yukon, assessing important factors such as grizzly bear population size, habitat use and distribution. This significant research will then help define what the next conservation steps should be to help increase grizzly bears’ protection.

The Earth Rangers App is where kids go to save animals! It’s free to join and you’ll have access to real-world Missions like this one. Plus, you can adopt an animal to support conservation projects, and learn all about animals in the Wild Wire Blog. Find activities like this, and so much more in the App!

Create a meadow oasis in your backyard with these homemade wildflower seed bombs!  As Earth Rangers, we know how important our native wildflower population is for our pollinator friends’ health.  The relationship between plants and pollinators is completely codependent – one cannot survive without the other!  Not to mention, us humans depend heavily on the work of pollinators for our own food sources as well. 

For today’s eco-activity, create these seed bombs to help disperse native plants, and reinforce your local pollinator population!

Steps if using clay powder:

1. Mix together 1 cup of seeds with 5 cups of compost, and 2-3 cups of clay powder.

2. Slowly mix in water with your hands until the mixture can be easily molded.

3. Roll the mixture into firm balls.

4. Allow the seed bombs to dry in the sun.

5. Plant seed bombs by throwing them onto bare spots of the garden – have some fun!

6. Wait to see what pops up from the soil where you threw in your seed bombs!

Steps if using recycled paper:

1. Shred your recycled paper into small pieces either by hand, or using a paper shredder machine.

2. Allow your paper scraps to soak in water while you work to soften them.

3. Place the torn and soaked paper bits into a blender, about 1/3 of the way full, and then fill the rest of the blender with water.

Note: You may have to adjust the ratio depending on the size of your blender.

4. Blend the paper until a mushy pulp forms.

5. Strain the paper pulp over a bowl to drain some of the water.

6. Place the paper pulp in a separate bowl.

7. Add your wildflower seeds to the bowl and mix them in by hand.

8. Roll the mixture into spheres and place aside to dry in the sun.

9. Plant seed bombs by throwing them onto bare spots of the garden – have some fun!

10. Wait to see what pops up from the soil where you threw in your seed bombs

Notes:

• Make sure to only use native wildflower species. Invasive species can cause large environmental problems, and can wreak havoc on the local ecosystem.
• Be sure not to throw your seed bombs on private property or in someone’s personal garden without permission.

The Earth Rangers App is where kids go to save animals! It’s free to join and you’ll have access to real-world Missions like this one. Plus, you can adopt an animal to support conservation projects, and learn all about animals in the Wild Wire Blog. Find activities like this, and so much more in the App!