For a short period each spring, parts of Russia’s Far East enter a brief flowering season. Rhododendron shrubs bloom for only a limited time, growing across steep slopes and rocky terrain. This narrow window created the opportunity for a rare goal: to document an Amur tiger moving through one of the region’s most recognizable plants.

Photographing an Amur tiger is extremely difficult, even with camera traps, which are motion-activated cameras left in the forest for long periods of time. Tigers are cautious, secretive, and often move through rugged landscapes that are hard to access. Far Eastern leopards tend to behave differently. They are rare as well, but often show more tolerance toward cameras and may remain in view for extended periods, something tigers rarely do.

These nighttime images were captured on a steep hill above the Narva River valley in Land of the Leopard National Park. At 4:50 a.m., an Amur tiger moves carefully along a narrow trail through flowering rhododendron. Several hours earlier, a Far Eastern leopard passed along the same route. In this area, large cats are known to use overlapping paths at different times.

Rhododendrons are shrubs that bloom briefly in spring, particularly in cool and mountainous regions. In Primorsky Krai, their flowering marks a short seasonal phase, making scenes like this possible for only a limited time each year.

The Amur tiger is the largest tiger subspecies on average and one of the rarest big cats in the world. Most of the remaining wild population lives in the forests of the Russian Far East, with a smaller number found in northeastern China. Population estimates vary, but the total is generally placed in the several hundreds.