How I find the best wildlife photography locations near me

FINDING THE BEST WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY LOCATIONS NEAR ME

When it comes to finding the best wildlife photography locations near me I relying on social media, word of mouth, and a few key online resources. Now I’m going to teach you how to use these same tools. Then you’ll be able to find the best wildlife locations for photography near you.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO FIND THE BEST WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY LOCATIONS

When it comes to using social media to find the best wildlife photography locations I’ve found Facebook to be the most usable resource. Facebook has local nature photography groups nearly everywhere. As a result, you can find great, often recently updated, information quickly and easily.

That said, a lot of these groups will be centered on specific locations. Therefore it’s best to have some idea of locations to begin with. Then you can find groups related to these locations and get more granular details from there.

HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO FIND WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY LOCATIONS

As I said above, social media is great for getting detailed information on specific locations. However, you may need to know what locations to look for beforehand. For example, there is a county park, North Park, near Pittsburgh, which has a large and active group dedicated to a pair of Bald Eagles.

Search for wildlife photography locations near Pittsburgh and they won't come up. Therefore, knowing that North Park is a good location for wildlife beforehand is critical to finding them.

So how do you find them? Here is what I do. First, look on Google Maps for any parks, nature preserves, reserves, state game lands, etc. Then create a list of potential locations. After that search Facebook for groups related to those locations.

Since birds and birding is very popular, try “your location + birds” as an example. Too, search on Google, not Facebook itself. Even limiting your search to groups doesn't work very well. Use Google instead.

For example. when I searched “North Park birds” on Facebook the Bald Eagles account didn’t even come up. However, when I searched via Google it was the second result with a VPN and incognito.

ALTERNATIVE SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

Aside from Facebook, there are alternative social media sites to use for finding wildlife locations. Instagram allows you to follow hashtags. I follow a number including #PittsburghWildlife and #WildlifePittsburgh. Wildlife photographers often post their location. Use this information to learn what wildlife might be in the area.

Another great social media site for wildlife is Flickr. I regularly search Flickr for local wildlife near me. Also, Flickr has groups. They can be hit-or-miss but even if they haven’t had a new post in a decade you may still find useful location information. Plus, Flickr features a map you can use to see where photos are being taken.

WORD OF MOUTH FOR FINDING WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY LOCATIONS

Social media is helpful but getting to know other wildlife photographers near me has been the most impactful. Like social media, this one requires some upfront knowledge. That’s one reason this post isn’t geared towards finding wildlife while traveling even if the method is adaptable to that. Still, asking others where they’re to look will yield results you otherwise wouldn’t get.

HOW TO BUILD A NETWORK TO IMPROVE YOUR WILDLIFE LOCATION KNOWLEDGE

The best place to find other wildlife photographers is in the wild. Of course finding what areas we want to go to is the goal so how do we get there. First, don’t limit your network to just photographers. Hunters, trail runners, and mountain bikers are all in the woods a lot. Too, they’re often in the wild at the times that wildlife are most active.

Both hunters and wildlife photographers are looking for animals specifically. This makes them better resources than runners and cyclists but don’t count those last two out. They will often at least know of places to start visiting.

How to choose the best lenses for wildlife photography.

CAMERA CLUBS & CONSERVATION GROUPS

Both camera clubs and conservation groups are a good place to look for other wildlife photographers. Too, those who belong to and frequent the activities from these types of groups, are generally very friendly. They usually love to socialize and talk about their adventures. Too, conservation groups will often list species and areas they’re working to protect. In addition, they both tend to have frequent meetings or outings.

ONLINE RESOURCES FOR WILDLIFE LOCATION SCOUTING

There are a lot of online resources for scouting wildlife locations. As a photographer I use the following quite extensively.

MAP OF LIFE

Map of Life is incredible. This invaluable resource for finding out what all animals are in a particular location. It contains local inventory numbers of some species. It will give you the location of points where they’ve been observed and/or tell you that they’re commonly found in the locations you’re searching.

When searching for wildlife photography locations near me I use the Map of Life to check local parks and wildlife areas. While the data is often static it is occasionally updated with specific observation sites. Too, just seeing what is possible within a park or other location is very helpful.

EBIRD

eBird is an application created and maintained by Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology. Along with a host of other great tools, eBird features a map where you can see heavy birding activities. What if you’re not looking for birds? eBird is still a great tool. An abundance of birds generally means a healthy ecosystem. Therefore, you’ll likely find a lot of other wildlife in areas of increased birding activities.

When it comes to granular details eBird is amazing. Even in medium sized parks birders often list specific locations where they’re seeing activities. Given that birds, like all other animals require food and water, you can usually figure out possible wildlife photography locations based on the birder activities.

MOVE BANK

MoveBank is a website and app from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. It’s a tool designed for those doing research on wild animals. Therefore, if there aren’t studies happening near you it may not be too fruitful. However, the site lists tracking data. As a result, you can also check in you’re in the path of species you’re interested in photographing.

NATIONAL AND LOCAL WILDLIFE AGENCIES

In the US the Fish and Wildlife Services has a list of national sites designated for wildlife protection and refuge. The individual sites usually list the species they have within their bounds. Too, as far as I’m aware most states in the US also maintain similar websites for their state parks. Plus, larger counties may also offer such lists. That said, those can be hit-or-miss.