Explore my adventures capturing Pacific Northwest wildlife through photography and videography. From stunning nature photos to music videos, interactive bird quizzes, and comprehensive field guides - join me on this journey through the natural world.
Oaks Bottom is a pond full of fishers — but a few of them are masters, and they couldn’t go about it more differently. One is all explosive speed; another,
A few scenes from the garden this season — a rose letting go, roses planted for strangers, and lilies caught in the last good light. Different flowers, one quiet idea:
Some mornings the garden fills up with small, fast birds working the feeder. None of them hold still for long — which is half the fun of trying to photograph
Spring is the season of new life. You can see it everywhere, if you slow down — in the hardhack (Spiraea douglasii) bursting open along the water, pink and soft
This year the garden is talking back. Last spring I planted about five new rose bushes along my street — the small, sun-loving variety that you see everywhere in Portland
Some mornings the backyard becomes the story. This week a red-breasted nuthatch family has been visiting the feeder — mother and babies, working the suet, calling back and forth from
This morning at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge in Portland, I saw something I’d never seen before. A Western Skink, sunning itself on the stone steps along the trail. Brown body
I wanted to share about the conditions on this shoot — the lighting was incredible. Around 5pm the sun hit the hummingbird perfectly, lighting up his rose-pink throat while the
A lifer for me today at Sellwood Park, right along the Willamette River — my first ever photographs of a Black-throated Gray Warbler. These little songbirds are spring migrants that
Perfect evening light at Oaks Bottom tonight. Seventy degrees, golden hour around 6pm, and the wildlife was out in force. The trails were full of people enjoying the spring weather,
Spring has arrived in Portland, and my backyard fig tree has become a stage for some of the Pacific Northwest’s most beautiful small birds. A suet feeder in the garden
I was out at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge the other day when I noticed movement along the water’s edge. A North American river otter had pulled itself up onto a
It’s been a busy couple of months, and I wanted to share what I’ve been pouring my time into. I’m juggling three major projects right now, each one pushing me
I’m excited to share a project I’ve been working on — a bird identification app built specifically for Portland, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. What It Does The Portland Bird
With Seattle Seahawks winnning the superbowl, I learned that the osprey is sometimes called a “seahawk.” I’ve attached a few of my photos of local ospreys.
I made a music video of my favorite photos and clips from Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge: lots of songbirds, waterfowl, and a few surprise visitors. The music is my version
Hello everyone, I wanted to take a moment to share some exciting updates about jonswanproductions.com – and to apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced over the past few
The morning I found myself beside the water, camera in hand, I expected the usual solitary moments — a single heron standing like a statue, a kingfisher’s brief flash of
In Oaks Bottom I had that rare, clear quality that makes the city seem to exhale: a low, golden sun, a thin, crisp air, and the marsh grasses catching light
The peregrine falcon — the fastest bird on the planet in its high‑speed stoop — has always felt like a mirror for my own chase for speed. I nearly reached
I spent my birthday exactly where I wanted to be—at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge—surrounded by crisp fall air, dripping gold and copper leaves, and the calm of wetland life. It
This morning’s walk through Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge stopped me in my tracks. A small, unassuming bird — the Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) — hopped through the leaf litter less
On a recent visit to Oaks Bottom, I had the good fortune to photograph four striking woodpecker species: the pileated woodpecker, the Downy woodpecker, the northern flicker, and the red‑breasted
My neighbors call it “magical,” and I think they’re right. In a small urban space I’ve created a thriving, wildlife-friendly garden that’s as beautiful as it is productive. With organic
For nearly ten years I’ve come to Oaks Bottom hoping to catch sight of a pileated woodpecker. I had heard rumors of people seeing a Pileated Woodpecker in the forest
Yesterday I had one of those wildlife moments that makes you forget to breathe. While standing on the viewing deck at Oak Bottom Wildlife Refuge, a river otter slipped quietly
That afternoon in Sellwood was a beautiful fall day with perfect golden hour lighting. I was wandering through Sellwood Park and I noticed a high-pitched chatter. A busy, bouncing cloud
The garden still hums with life as spring winds down. Cosmos sway in the soft late-afternoon light, butterflies flit from petal to petal, and the neighborhood cat takes long, sunny
