A day’s hike up in the mountains close to his hometown of Haines Junction, central Yukon, Sonny Parker was set up in sight of a bluff hoping to see the local population of Dall sheep. He was in luck — some ewes had shown up, lambs in tow. Parker had his camera zoom set on one lamb, smaller and wobblier-legged than the others, struggling to keep up as its mother crossed the mountain face. Then a dark shape appeared.

“It felt like it filled the entire frame,” says Parker. “I had no idea what it was at first. Then I realized: it was a black bear that had just scrambled up these precarious cliffs. The ewe was standing there helplessly. The bear grabbed the lamb, turned around, and carefully walked back across the cliff band. Meanwhile, I’m overcome with adrenaline, holding full burst mode on my camera, just hoping I get something that works.”

For Parker, 33, born and raised in Dawson City, it was a memory that ranks as one of the high points of his career. Parker credits his love of the natural world to a childhood spent amid the vast tundra and breathtaking mountains of the Yukon — particularly Tombstone Territorial Park — and is inspired by the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation’s respect for the land. These values continue to guide him as a photographer. 

“It’s those amazing landscapes, the tons of wildlife and the fast-changing weather that you richly experience in the Yukon’s northern mountains,” says Parker. “I’m super fortunate to live in a place in the world where wildlife can still live as it has for thousands of years.”

His photographic journey started in high school, when he became fascinated by a small family of beavers that lived in a dredge tailing pond in his parents’ backyard. Parker would take a canoe out each day after school and watch them — and although he didn’t have a camera at that point, he would envisage using photo and video to tell the beaver family’s story. After going through a couple of Panasonic point-and-shoots, Parker eventually got his hands on his first real camera, a Nikon D90. 

Thousands of hours in the field later, and now residing in Haines Junction, about seven hours south of Dawson City, Parker has amassed a spectacular portfolio of wildlife and landscape photography that he shares with his substantial social media following. His photos have been featured in Canadian Geographic, Up Here and Yukon, North of Ordinary. He still finds himself drawn to the mountains close to his home and has developed a particular affinity for photographing Dall sheep. “For me, they symbolize life in the mountains, and the amazing places they live and challenges they go through have inspired me to go to those places myself,” he says. But he wants to do more than simply photograph them.

“I’m really trying to transition to working on bigger-scale photography storytelling projects,” he says. “Rather than just being reactive in the field, I’m trying to go in with a few image ideas in mind in order to tell that animal’s story.”

Parker has his mind set on a series of images showing the predator-prey relationship between golden eagles and Dall sheep — particularly images of golden eagles actually carrying away lambs, an aim he describes as “a bit of a long shot” but retains hope for following the bear incident he previously witnessed.  

“I really hope my images can inspire curiosity in others about our natural world and what makes it tick, and the connections between the natural world and people,” he says. “The more you learn, the more you care, and it would be priceless if someone were to see an image of mine and be inspired to do something positive, whether that’s for themselves or for the planet.”

Terrestrial life

Winner: Kelvin Aitken

A black-billed magpie swoops in to feed on ticks and other parasites buried in the fur of a plains bison in Grasslands National Park, Sask. The photographer notes that each time the magpie flew off, the bison appeared to invite it back by leaning to one side — behaviour typically observed in marine animals like sharks and rays to attract “cleaner fish.”

Runner up: Justin Chan

A juvenile paradise jumping spider (Habronattus americanus) basks on a piece of moss-covered driftwood on Richmond, B.C.’s Iona Beach. Young spiders emerge from hibernation in the spring and moult several times before reaching maturity; this male is just one moult away from the vibrant red and blue scales that will mark it as an adult. 

Things with wings

Winner: Alec Hickman

A male ruby-throated hummingbird is frozen mid-flight in Shediac, N.B. In spring, male hummingbirds engage in dramatic courtship displays, zooming, diving, fluffing their throat feathers and making whirring noises with their wings to impress potential mates. 

Runner-up: Kevin Reynolds

A female belted kingfisher has successfully snapped up a tadpole from Kemptville Creek near Ottawa and is returning to its perch to eat it. The belted kingfisher is one of the few bird species in which females have more colourful plumage than males: the name derives from the band of chestnut-coloured feathers that encircles the female’s abdomen.

Aquatic life

Winner: Antonio Hou

A Pacific sea nettle drifts side by side with a juvenile moon jelly in God’s Pocket Marine Provincial Park, B.C. The stinging tentacles of the Pacific sea nettle can be up to six metres long — a stark contrast to the diminutive moon jelly, which even when fully grown sports a fringe of fine tentacles only a couple of centimetres in length. 

Runner-up: Mark Bernards

Salamander embryos float in a gelatinous egg mass in a shallow vernal pond in Ottawa. Upon hatching, the larvae will spend another couple of months in their pool before moving to land to burrow under leaves or in wet soil. 

Flora and fungi

Winner: Ryan Wilkes

Vibrant auroras dance above a meadow of blooming kwetlal (camas lilies) on Vancouver Island during the strongest solar storm to strike Earth in almost 20 years. Kwetlal are part of the highly fragmented and endangered Garry oak ecosystem found only in southwestern B.C. Every May, they erupt in stunning purple flowers, and their bulbs were traditionally an important food source for the lək̓ʷəŋən people. 

Runner-up: Brittany Crossman

A beautiful native spring ephemeral, Dutchman’s breeches are frequently found along New Brunswick’s stream corridors. The flower gets its name from the dainty white blossoms that appear like pants or shorts hanging upside down on a clothesline. If picked, the flowers quickly wilt and die, so their beauty is best enjoyed in nature.

Honourable mentions

Himanshu Arora

A breeding pair of barred owls cuddles on a branch in Terra Nova Rural Park, B.C. Once only found on the east coast of North America, the owls have expanded their range to the Pacific Northwest, where they are considered an invasive species due to the threat they pose to the smaller spotted owl. 

Jean-Simon Bégin

A caribou shakes off water after emerging from the Leaf River in Nunavik, northern Quebec. The migratory Leaf River caribou herd travels thousands of kilometres a year between forest and tundra. Although their population is stable, they remain vulnerable to the effects of climate change on their habitat. 

Jocelyn Praud

A young trumpeter swan feeds on aquatic grasses stirred up from the bottom of the Saguenay River by one of its parents. Trumpeter swans are the largest waterfowl native to North America and one of the heaviest flying birds found on the continent. 

Kathryn Peiman

A jumping spider perches on the side of a dandelion seed head at Miller Creek Wildlife Area in Bridgenorth, Ont. Jumping spiders are so-called because of their hunting behaviour, in which they attack prey with a single fast leap.

Liron Gertsman

A humpback whale breaches into the sunlit spray left behind by another breaching whale in the Salish Sea off Quadra Island, B.C. Breaching is often synchronized among a group of whales, leading researchers to believe that it serves a social function — and may even be a form of play. 

Luke Roman

The branch-like fruiting bodies of an aptly-named coral fungus rise up from the forest floor in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ont. The fungus grows on dead wood from both leafy and coniferous trees and is found in appropriate habitats all over the world.