Photographer Wesley Berg skied into the San Juan mountains near Silverton in early April. He was searching for a family of moose he’d been following for a while. Not having any luck, Berg traveled deeper into the valley. Then he came across a rare sight.
“Across the creek, about a hundred yards away, I saw this lynx laying in the snow,” said Berg in a phone interview.
With his camera ready, he slowly moved closer, reaching the creek embankment. He settled in and captured footage of a lynx resting in the snow.
It’s uncommon to see a lynx in the wild. Colorado reintroduced the animals more than 20 years ago. Fewer than 250 are estimated to live in the state, and the animals are elusive. But the lynx Berg encountered that day didn’t mind his presence.
Berg observed the animal for over an hour, taking photos and videos of the stout-bodied creature sunbathing and stretching its large paws. The images reveal the details of an animal built to hunt in the snow. Its distinct and dark tuft ears poke out like whiskers; its golden-green eyes glow against the snow and shade. One photo catches the lynx mid-yawn as it bares impressive, dagger-like fangs.
As a wildlife photographer, Berg said it’s his goal to become uninteresting so that an animal ignores him. That way, he can document their natural movements. Even then, there’s still a desire to get that striking photo.
“You want them to do things, to look at the camera,” said Berg. “But of course, wild (animals) are going to do whatever they want to do.”
Spending all that time with a lynx also made Berg realize something about the animal.
“They’re kind of like a housecat where sometimes they just kind of ignore you. A lot of the time, it had its head turned away from me,” Berg said. “I had to catch those opportunities when it would actually face me, so I could see its eyes. Because it was like, ‘Oh, I'm not that interested in you.’”
Chance encounters with such elusive animals are why Berg devotes time to wildlife photography. He hopes to meet another lynx someday.
