6 Hours for One Frame: 14 Funniest Wildlife Photography Shots and Their Stories

Animals
10/27/2026
6 Hours for One Frame: 14 Funniest Wildlife Photography Shots and Their Stories

One October morning I tried to photograph the crows that leave buttons on my grandmother’s porch rail, and I ended up with 61 pictures of the rail. The crows came back the minute I went inside for coffee. These 14 wildlife photography fans were more patient than I was, and each one tells the story behind the funniest animal photo they ever took.

A Squirrel That Knocked an Owlet Out of a Tree, Three Times in One Morning

The photo, titled “Are You Kidding Me?”, is one of this year’s Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards finalists.

“Can this Great Horned Owl’s eyes get any bigger? 😂

The story behind it is just as crazy. I was photographing this seven-week-old owlet when a squirrel suddenly launched from a nearby branch and landed directly on its head, knocking both of them out of the tree.

And believe it or not, a squirrel knocked this same owlet out of the tree THREE TIMES that morning! Fortunately, the owlet was fine and eventually settled down next to its mother.”

A Ground Squirrel Who Stopped to Smell a Dandelion

“Ground Squirrel enjoying life to the fullest”

Possibly my favorite shot from that session.

Just a European ground squirrel, photo was taken near Vienna/Austria.

Trust me, if I tried to draw this, you wouldn’t know it’s a ground squirrel :’)

A Screech Owl Who Woke Up From a Nap Just Long Enough to Wink

“Nearly spun out my car to get these pictures of an Eastern Screech-Owl napping in a tree (Amesville, Ohio)”

I’m an ecology PhD student and my dissertation work is on light pollution and its behavioral effects on cavity-nesting birds.

I’ve spent dozens (maybe hundreds) of hours doing nighttime fieldwork.

Yesterday was my first field day of the year and right on the side of the road by a sheep farm I’ve driven by over a hundred times this bundle of feathers was napping in the sunlight like a cat. ALWAYS BRING THE CAMERA!

This diva was staring me DOWWWWN! I swallowed my laughter for fear of scaring it off but believe me the sleepy eye rolls were downright hilarious to watch 😂

I got probably 30+ good ones with many variations of the divalicious side eye. It was hard to not laugh in the moment, it looked so groggy. Or like Rihanna trying to wink 😂

From the author:

In high school I photographed shelter cats for the adoption board, and the black ones only came out right by the window in daylight. I learned what these photographers know: sit on the floor, stop looking through the camera and wait until the animal decides you’re furniture. The cat usually decided right after I put the camera down.

A Bison That Grazed for 6 Hours Before Looking Up for 3 Seconds

“A 6hr wait, for a stare down that lasted all of 3 seconds! Denver, Colorado”

I was pretty far away as this was shot at 600mm. It was obviously aware of my presence, however I sat in the same spot and watched it graze for 6hrs before taking this shot.

It was definitely pounding out of my chest when he finally lifted his head.

Haha, I asked and he just spit grass at me.

A Fox That Finally Didn’t Run Off and Yawned Instead

“I always want to photograph a fox, but whenever I see one, it runs off before I can get a good photo. And then 2024 happened...”

A Badger Cub Too Exhausted to Care Who Was Watching

“Exhausted badger cub 🦡🌱

This little guy became one of the finalists in this year’s Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.

I can’t stop thinking about the fact that he has no idea how many people have seen him all over the world by now.

This is still one of my favourite photos I’ve ever taken, and the experience of photographing these little guys will always be one of my favourite wildlife experiences.”

A Deer That Walked Out of the Woods Wearing a Grass Hat

“Took this picture today of a fashionable deer”

It was really hard to find him 🤪🤪🤪

From the author:
My grandmother doesn’t count the deer that come through her garden in October. She counts bean rows, and every spring she plants one extra for them. She has never once seen them eat. She knows they were there because the stalks are cut clean at knee height, which she calls the neatest work anyone does in her garden.

A Duck Photographed at the Exact Moment It Went Bottoms-Up

“I took this photo of a duck today.”

Yes it signed a release form.

Harbour Seals Who Posed Like They Knew What a Camera Was

“Harbour seals know how to strike a pose.”

It’s like they know what the camera is!

Yup, I knew it was a keeper then and there!

A Deer on Fire Island That Came a Little Too Close for a Portrait

“This deer in the Fire Island National Seashore got a little bit close for comfort.”

The deer on this island are habituated to people and often (unfortunately) are fed by people causing them to approach humans like this little fella did to me.

Literally made a meme of that using this photo and put it in another subreddit lol.

A Red Squirrel Mid-Leap in the Winter Rain, in a Shot That Took a Whole Year

“I’m proud to present my photo ‘Squirrel Wars’, which has been selected as a finalist in the prestigious Comedy Wildlife Awards.

It took me a whole year of waiting for all the right elements to come together to create this image, captured during a winter rain.”

From the author:
The squirrel my grandmother calls the accountant buries walnuts in her tomato beds one at a time and pats each spot down with both paws. Last fall I tried to photograph him doing it and got 30 frames of a tail disappearing into a hedge. My grandmother, who has never owned a camera, said she could have told me where he’d be: wherever I wasn’t pointing.

A Hawk in the Bath, Shot by a Photographer Lying on Their Back in the Creek

“My Best Photo”

A few years ago I was out on my daily hike/photo wildlife adventure and I came across a Red-tailed Hawk taking a bath in a creek. I ended up laying on my back in the creek to get eye level with the hawk and ended up with this photo. I was absolutely over the moon (pretty funny I ended up with the shot of my life less than a mile from home).

This photo represented years of learning, dedication, and time put into this hobby. Is it the best photo ever? No, but it was my crowning achievement. I couldn’t be happier.

A Kestrel That Seemed to Say, “Go Ahead, Take the Shot”

“Waiting for me patiently — American Kestrel.”

Went for a walk and spied the kestrel. Thought it would fly off but it just looked at me and said, “Go ahead/ take the shot.”

An Owl That Kept Its Distance for Five Years, Then Flew Straight at the Lens

“I’ve been chasing this shot for five years.”

I’ve been visiting this location where I have seen this short-eared owl quite a few times but he has always been too far in the distance that even a super telephoto wouldn’t reach. Yesterday evening, whilst set up for an entirely different subject, he decided to surprise me with a super close flyby, looking directly down my lens!

I was set up for the harvest moonrise.

The last photographer spent five years watching an owl that stayed too far away, then got a flyby while waiting for the moon. Funny and lovely things happen in the wild every day; there just isn’t usually somebody standing there with a camera.

What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever seen an animal do in your backyard? Tell us in the comments.

Preview photo credit ScottBellow / Reddit

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