12th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Female sockeye salmon digging

A shot of a female sockeye salmon digging her redd (nest) as a male looks on. When surrounded by hundreds of beach spawning (yes, these fish are spawning on a sandy bottom beach) sockeye salmon there is always a lot of activity going on, however, it seems whenever you have your camera on a pair they tend to get camera shy. It took about a half an hour of just waiting and doing my best floating log impression before this couple resumed their normal fishy activities and I was able to get this split second shot of her digging.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 08.2014
Date Uploaded: 11.2014
Photo Location: Pedro Bay, Alaska, United States of America
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Copyright: © Jason Ching