... blog post:
One of the challenges of photographing wildlife is doing animal portraits, which sometimes can only be achieved with some species in controlled circumstances and with appropriate permits.
As ever the golden rule is always put the welfare of your subject first and never put them under stress. So you are once again going to be working with super-tele-zoom lenses or long tele primes to preserve sufficient working distances between you and your subject.
If you do and if you work in a calm, quiet and respectful way that takes note of and respects the patterns of the subjects behaviour, then you might be rewarded with pictures like these or indeed much better!
Birds are an even bigger challenge than mammals in many respects, as they are literally flighty. Also you need to be aware of any restrictions and protected species laws that might apply to them and indeed to any other species that you may need to conform to. You may need a licence to photograph certain endangered species. So do your homework.
Wild cats for example are extremely timid, critically endangered and The Wildlife and Countryside Act gives them strict legal protection and indeed their dens. However, many wildcats have inter-bred with feral domestic cats and are in fact hybrids.
What I find appealing is the small faces, like mini portraits of these creatures taken all unawares. A bit like social portraiture for wildlife, so to speak.