Nature in the City – Saskatoons are in bloom this week
Saskatoon trees are in bloom this week. The name of this tree (well, more of a shrub) derives from the Cree noun ‘misâskwatômina’. The city of Saskatoon is named after the berry. Have you ever tried the Saskatoon berry pie? Delicious. I took a few images you see here as part of the NatureCity Festival that starts today. Over 40 organizations are taking part in setting up nature-related events. The NatureCity Festival is one week of free family fun that takes place in neighbourhoods across the city of Saskatoon. It is...
read moreNature in the City – spring has arrived to Saskatoon
After a few days of unseasonably warm weather, signs of spring are everywhere: robins are busy looking for earthworms in my backyard and the elm trees in front of my house are slowly releasing new leaves. I went for a walk along the South Saskatchewan River and managed to photograph prairie crocuses at Petturson’s Ravine. It is so strange to be able to still see them in May. A very late season this year. Here are a few images from the project to photograph elements of Urban Nature for a series of lectures that I will be presenting...
read moreA large wildfire burns through the Grasslands National Park
A large wildfire swept through the Grasslands National Park at the end of April this year. The fire started in agricultural fields outside of the park and was carried into the park by a strong wind gusting up to 80 kilometres per hour. A large area of the park was affected – the fire travelled approximately 20 kilometres along the Frenchman River Valley and burned an area between one to four kilometres wide. About 200 people fought to contain the flames and by the next afternoon the fire was extinguished and under control. See an...
read moreMichelle’s Prize – award for conservation work
I am honoured to announce that I have been awarded the Michelle’s Prize by the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA). This scholarship is awarded through the University of Saskatchewan to a student pursuing graduate degree at the School of Environment and Sustainability or in the Juris Doctor program at the College of Law. The Michelle’s Prize scholarship was established to mark CELA’s 40th anniversary of legal, community and social activism directed towards protecting our environment, and to honour the life work of Michelle...
read moreNature in the City – birds along the edge of ice
I can not believe that we have had winter conditions in Saskatoon for over 6 months. This is the longest period of continuous snow cover that I can remember. Finally, we experienced a day or two of warm weather last week and the ice cover on South Saskatchewan River started to rapidly melt away. I decided to walk along the river bank and try to photograph birds that started to congregate along the ice edge. My goal was to capture interesting patterns including birds at the edge of flowing river and ice. This is not my usual photography taken...
read moreSaskTel Phone Book cover – Estevan & Weyburn
The second in the series of SaskTel phone books with my image on the cover is out in circulation. This time, the honour goes to the image of aspen parkland near Arcola (Moose Mountain area). The remaining regional phone books will be released throughout the year, as they go to production at different times. Here is a list of the regional phone books with my images on the cover page (in the order of appearance). I will post the cover pages when they become available. Moose Jaw – published Estevan/Weyburn – published Swift Current...
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Dr. Branimir Gjetvaj is a biologist and internationally published environmental photographer specializing in western Canadian landscapes. He leads photography workshops and photo tours, and gives public presentations on photography, natural history and conservation biology topics.