Mark Bradley comes across great wildlife photo opportunities all the time as Jasper National Park’s wildlife biologist, but it was while he was getting groceries that he came upon his latest great photo, landing him first place in the Canadian Geographic photo contest.

In August, Bradley walked out of the Super A Foods grocery store and noticed a nest full of tree swallows in a pipe at the back of the parking lot. Returning later in the evening when the light was better, he snapped a few shots of the young birds getting fed by their mom – which ended up winning the Urban Wildlife category.

Bradley, an amateur photographer who has been taking photos since he was a child, says he has entered photos in the contest before, but this is the first time he’s won the national contest.

With his brand new Nikon D300 that his family gave him for his 50th birthday, Bradley couldn’t get too close to the nest.

“The nest was at about five feet off the ground, so you could go right up and grab the chicks if you wanted to. I was using a 300mm (lens), because if you got too close, the parents would get upset, and I saw them dive on a few people who were walking by. So using the 300 I stayed back quite a ways so as not to harass them too much,” Bradley says.

Tree swallows are little birds, about half the size of a house sparrow, and Bradley says they specialize in catching bugs and insects in the air, including mosquitos. Bradley says he was about 15 feet away when he took the photos.

Bradley takes his camera to work with him and uses it frequently when he is in the field, while studying caribou.

Ironically, none of the wilderness photos he submitted won – just the shot taken in the parking lot of a grocery store.

His winning photo, along with the rest of the contest winners, will be on tour throughout museums in Canada. Bradley’s photo will also be featured on an official Canada Post stamp that will be issued next year. The winning photo also comes with a $1,000 cash prize, which Bradley joked will almost pay for the camera, and a year subscription to Canadian Geographic.

Bradley’s winning photo and the rest of the contest winners will be published in the December 2009 issue of Canadian Geographic. To view more of Mark Bradley’s photos you can visit his website at www.borealnaturephotos.com.