Mount Rainier, WA

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Interesting Nature Facts: Updated Daily

Featured Gallery of the Month: Owls!

Latest Photos and Wildlife News

Frequently Asked Questions

Featured Gallery

Owls

Owls (families: Strigidae, Tytonidae) are mostly solitary and nocturnal predators, feeding on small mammals and insects. They have hooked bills, sharp talons, forward-facing eyes with circular facial discs and are adept at silent flight.

Owls

Owls (families: Strigidae, Tytonidae) are mostly solitary and nocturnal predators, feeding on small mammals and insects. They have hooked bills, sharp talons, forward-facing eyes with circular facial discs and are adept at silent flight.

Owls

Owls (families: Strigidae, Tytonidae) are mostly solitary and nocturnal predators, feeding on small mammals and insects. They have hooked bills, sharp talons, forward-facing eyes with circular facial discs and are adept at silent flight.

Latest Photos and Wildlife News

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

The golden-mantled ground squirrel (Callospermophilus lateralis), is a fascinating species found across most of the western United States and north into Alberta and British Columbia in Canada. With a distinctive striped appearance and several unique behaviors, this small mammal is a joy to see and watch in person.

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Female Saffron-winged Meadowhawk

Female Saffron-winged Meadowhawk

The last time I passed through Montana, I stopped by some duck ponds in Anaconda at a place called Warm Springs State Wildlife Management Area and there were dragonflies and damselflies everywhere! I was familiar with some of the species, but this one olive-golden...

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Interesting Nature Facts #102 – Warblers

You can find 50 species of warblers in North America. Most warblers are specialized to eat insects. They migrate to the tropics for winter. A few, like the yellow-rumped warbler, can shift their diets to berries during winter in the United States. MORE PHOTOS OF BIRDS...

Interesting Nature Facts #114 – Aggregating Anemone

Although they live side by side, clonemates from different groups are enemies. Warrior anemones with knoblike swellings packed with large stinging cells border each group. If a warrior comes in contact with an enemy warrior, they exchange a barrage of poison darts,...

Interesting Nature Facts #155 – Blackberries

Blackberries are one of the most delicious wild berries you can find on almost any continent and belong to the rose family, Rosaceae (notice all those thorns?). Did you know that what we call the blackberry isn’t actually a berry though? It’s technically an aggregate...

Interesting Nature Facts #109 – Horsetails

Common horsetail buds are eaten as a vegetable in Japan and Korea in springtime. All other Equisetum species are toxic. MORE PHOTOS OF HORSETAILS MORE INTERESTING NATURE FACTS Interesting Nature Facts is a series about the flora, fauna and places that make North...

Interesting Nature Facts #144 – Eastern Kingbird

The Eastern kingbird mostly eats flying insects during the summer in North America and maintains a breeding territory that it defends vigorously against all other kingbirds. In the winter along the Amazon, however, it has a completely different lifestyle: it travels...

Frequently Asked Questions

1 - Fine Art Prints, Canvases and Other Printing Options

I have an automated ordering system for fine art prints that not only makes ordering easier, but gives you more options. Choose luster (my personal favorite – it’s a cross between matte and glassy), old-fashioned glossy, classic black & white or even have your images printed on metallic paper or canvas. As always, all my printing is done on ultra-premium museum-quality, acid-free professional photography paper with commercial archival inks that won’t fade or “yellow” over time. I care enough about my work to have it only printed on the best materials possible.

Next to every image in our gallery there is an “Add To Cart” button that will give you all the options available for that image in a very user-friendly format, and will make ordering a breeze. There is even an option at checkout for custom cropping.

And as always, if you have specific questions that aren’t answered on this page, please contact me and I’ll be more than happy to talk to you over the phone or by email, or even walk you through the ordering process. When in doubt, contact me before ordering.

All final orders will be double-checked and verified personally by me to make sure every order looks absolutely perfect before going to print.

2 - Image Licensing and Stock Images

I am pleased to announce that every single image on this website is available for instant download to your computer – no waiting involved! An ever-increasing amount of our business these days has been electronic image sales for bloggers, web-designers, news media and those who want the image in electronic format only. Many of these are publishers, editors, and other media specialists who do not require the printed image for their work or project.

We have a system in place for instant downloading of high-resolution (.TIFF) images for both personal use and commercial use. Just choose the size you want and it’s yours instantly, and we’ve tried to make this new system easy and simple to use and understand. There are two types of downloads available for you to use immediately. Read more about uses and downloading options.

Commercial Royalty-Free:

This type of download is for use in business or enterprise. This can include editorial work, blogging, sales material, non-profit, pamphlets, brochures, inclusion in a website, or any other commercial application. If you are not sure, ask yourself, “Am I planning on making money with this image or using for a business-related project?” If this is the case, then this is the right type of license needed. This does not include printing images for resale, print publication, or digital resale. If you do need an extended license for commercial work that requires use in mass printing, television, film, or other related commercial uses, contact us at your earliest convenience so we can discuss and we’ll get you a fast and reasonable quote.

Personal Use:

This type of download is for an individual using the image for personal use only. This includes classroom usage, school projects, personal prints, screen savers, usage for painters and artists to create derivatives that aren’t commercial in nature, etc. Essentially for uses that you aren’t trying to make money from our work. If you have any questions or extra information regarding uses please contact us and we’ll get you pointed in the right direction.

3 - More Information about Customized Fine Art Prints and Special Orders

Ordering prints from our galleries just got even easier! Now we are offering not only prints, papers, metal prints, acrylic and metal wall displays but a whole new range of customized frames, mats, and other accessories! Most prints are shipped within three business days and come with a no questions asked 30 day return policy. (I’ll discuss the details with you directly before you order – some of these materials may not be listed in the galleries, and I will take those orders personally – contact me for more information)

Through our partnership with Fine Art America we offer the most customizable and easy way of providing you with the very best professional prints for your office, home or gallery.

Custom frames and mattes – design it with amazing online tools! (Contact us so we can set it up personally with you)
Metal Prints (printed directly onto high quality aluminum)
Acrylic Prints (looks amazing with float mounts)
Stretched canvas prints
Museum wraps
Gallery wraps
Choose from over 230 high-end frames and 100 mats
Specialty fine art papers – including watercolor and luster!
Even greeting cards! Many more options, and we’re adding more every week!

4 - Usage Guidelines: Copyright Notice

We appreciate that you would like to use our photographs and/or images for your own projects. Please ask if you would like to use photographs for a blog or any other specific use. We offer exclusive rights to some of our photographs and it is important that you contact us, as this can then get us into legal troubles.

You may not copy images for paintings, drawings, or in any form or derivative without written permission. Your easiest option would be to purchase a “personal use” discounted download.

You may not sell or resell any photograph/image that Rich or Galina Leighton has taken or created. We have in our employ two competing copyright violation services searching out illegal usage of our work. Legal steps will be taken if misuse of our copyrighted material is detected.

If you want to use one of our images, you are required to purchase or license, which is easily and instantly available for every image through the shopping cart. Either contact us for your needs or use the automated pricing option for each image when viewing individual images (“Add to Cart” button). Every image you see in our online galleries is registered with the United States Copyright Office, and we do follow up on every single infringement case, all around the world. If you have any questions about any of this, please contact us.

You may not copy images for paintings, drawings, or in any form or derivative without permission.

We work really hard to create these images. Please respect our copyright. Thank you.

Battle of the Bulls – Breeding Season in Elk Country

Early last month I was driving through the mountains of Oregon heading to the coast when I spotted a small herd of elk in a meadow at the foot of a steep rise of one of the many heavily forested highlands in the region. There were about 30 females (cows) and about a...

Orchid Hunting in the Florida Everglades

Orchids. Just the very word brings to mind a vision of exotic color, delightful texture and fantastic shapes, and the scent of consummate and delicious fragrances. Often it evokes feelings of peaceful reflection, caring, and a love for nature's most wondrous flowers....

Feels Like Home…..

Short post for today. Sometimes we make a couple of mistakes in making a photograph, but see so much in it that we still like that we decide to try do a little digital magic to flush out what it was that we like and cover up the mistake(s). ~ click to enlarge ~ That...

Unexpected Florida Beach Sighting – Cattle Egret in Breeding Plumage

A couple of days ago, I was driving along the coast of Apalachee Bay on the Florida Panhandle on the edge of Tate’s Hell State Forest when I saw the unexpected. It was a group of 25 to 30 cattle egrets along the shoreline and perched among the skeletal remains of pine trees killed by beach erosion. Strangely peculiar as these egrets are not normally associated with the beach or salt water, and are most often found inland perching on or walking among cattle or horses.

notes from the field blog

Cape Flattery

The rocky coastline of Cape Flattery is located at the most extreme northwestern corner of the contiguous United States on the Olympic Peninsula, where the Pacific Ocean joins the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Millennia of pounding waves, tides and erosion have sculpted the...

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