Neal Parekh

Neal Parekh Nature and Wildlife Photographer based in Southern California

Sony Alpha System

09/02/2026

Moments with four Peregrine Falcon eyases along a cliffside in Southern California. These amazing raptors were only a few days away from fledging at the time of filming. Their curiosity grows faster than they themselves do at this age as they brave the steep cliffs, offering their first looks at the world above their nest.

08/23/2026

Puffin stampede! The short boardwalks on this island often seem like puffin highways rather than something humans built. Watch as these wonderful pelagic birds scurry down a path, likely headed to their burrows or readying for a diving excursion. Their bright orange webbed feet flopping down the walkway is perfection!

Photographed this year during a puffin expedition off the coast of Maine.

08/12/2026

Close up with an Atlantic Puffin from our trip to Maine a few weeks ago - check out that detail! This amazing bird was quite comfortably hopping around just outside of our photo blind on Machias Seal Island. The feather detail on these birds is just astounding. Puffins' social nature makes them quite entertaining; they are a lot of fun to observe and photograph!

08/11/2026

Razorbills putting on a show just outside of a photo blind on Machias Seal Island. It seems these two were tired of the puffins getting all of the attention!

Razorbills are monogamous and typically pair with a mate for life. I was surprised to see this pair mating so late in the season, my trip out here was in late July.

08/07/2026

An Atlantic Puffin celebrates its big haul of herring with spread wings and a quick shake. These extraordinary diving birds have barbed hooks on their beaks that allow them to "rack up" fish and keep them hooked for a secure flight back to their burrows.

Photographed during a recent trip to the Maine coastline specifically for these guys!

I just returned from an incredible trip to Maine with a focus on Atlantic Puffins! I will be going through stills and vi...
07/31/2026

I just returned from an incredible trip to Maine with a focus on Atlantic Puffins! I will be going through stills and videos for some time to come, but here is a quick starter... Five Atlantic Puffins lined up on a rock just outside of one of the photo blinds on Machias Seal Island. Shooting in hard light presents a slew of challenges, especially when your subjects are both black AND white - a bit of an exposure conundrum in the wild. These guys were all lit up by midday sun with the Atlantic behind them.

This trip was also my first long-distance outing with Sony's new 100-400mm GM f/4.5, and it's already earning a permanent spot in my lineup.

Lots more from this trip coming soon. As always, glad to be back but wish I had more time there!

Sony - Alpha Universe National Audubon Society

07/16/2026

Moments with a Santa Cruz Island Fox, a once critically endangered species. With all of the weighty news on climate change and challenges that many species face, it is important to also celebrate the wins.

This species was down to fewer than 100 individuals at its lowest point, mainly due to predation from golden eagles. Historically, golden eagles were not known to breed on these islands. Bald eagles, which primarily feed on fish, had claimed the territory; however, after DDT contamination wiped out the local bald eagle population, golden eagles moved in, drawn by feral pigs left over from the island's ranching days. It didn't take long before they began targeting the foxes as well.

In an extremely successful recovery effort, pigs were removed, golden eagles relocated, and bald eagles were reintroduced - back to reclaim their territory. Human-driven impact being reversed through targeted and balanced action. Santa Cruz Island foxes have had one of the fastest recoveries of any mammal under the Endangered Species Act, and this little guy is proof it's still paying off.

07/11/2026

A new world awaits this extraordinary raptor; watch as a fledgling Peregrine Falcon begins to explore the cliffs just above his nest. The most daring of his three siblings, this falcon was quick to begin training for flight. Mere days after his first steps above the nesting alcove and he was already itching to take to the sky.

07/04/2026

When your food weighs more than you do, what do you do? For this Osprey wrestling with a freshly caught California Corbina, it must decide between eating a huge meal where hundreds of humans walk through, or abandoning it and looking for a safer location, wasting precious energy. This huge catch could feed the Osprey for almost a whole day, but it comes with risk and exhaustion.

It is important that we recognize and learn about our world so that we can live more harmoniously with the other inhabitants of our planet. This year, too often we watched as people disturbed the Osprey on this beach, a few purposely walking directly over it.

07/03/2026

A Great Horned Owl spots a crow flying through his territory and scopes it out. I observed this owl getting mobbed fairly often, he was clearly over it. Crows mob owls because they pose a threat to their young; there is an interesting predator/prey dynamic between them. Crows, being very intelligent, will bring help to gang up on anything they view as an intrusive predator and try to chase them away.

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