Calgary journalist shares his passion for wildlife reporting

Bella Coco, News Editor

Calgary journalist Amir Said spends his days covering everything from municipal politics to breaking news, but it’s the stories with feathers, fur and conservation stakes that truly drive his passion.

A reporter and editor with CBC Calgary, Said describes himself as a generalist by assignment, yet his reputation among readers increasingly rests on his wildlife reporting. He pitches most of the stories himself, spotting angles others might overlook and translating a lifelong passion for nature into journalism that reaches well beyond Alberta.

A childhood curiosity that never faded

Said’s interest in wildlife started early with a childhood fascination with dinosaurs. That curiosity later evolved into a deep interest in birds, which he jokingly calls “living dinosaurs,” and into a broader passion for animals, ecosystems and environmental issues.

“My whole life, I loved telling stories. I love writing, and I love photography. Journalism’s an opportunity to use what I’m skilled at, and to tell stories that aren’t being told otherwise. I think it’s in service to the community–sharing information that people need to hear or are interested in hearing,” Said says.

While a writer of all trades, chances are the byline under a CBC wildlife story belongs to Amir Said. Photo courtesy of Amir Said

That background now shapes how he sees the world. Where others might notice a bird on an evening walk and move on, Said sees a potential story.

“I’ll think, ‘What is that bird? How did that bird get here? What is the history of that bird? What is the conservation status of that bird? What have humans done to lower this bird’s population? Or conversely, what have humans done to increase that bird’s population and have it rebound from conservation threats and issues that it may have been facing?’” Said explains.

He says that approach allows him to chase and write stories that other people wouldn’t think of, which leads to interested readers and other media outlets catching on.

A snowy owl shift

Said traces a turning point in his career back to his time at the Western Wheel, a community newspaper in Okotoks. Asked to write a holiday feature, he pitched a story on snowy owls: where to find them in Alberta and the conservation challenges they face.

The reaction surprised him.

“The response I got to that story was mind-blowing. I had so many people reaching out to me by email, by social media, asking me questions, and following up with my article” Said says. “ I had never received that kind of feedback.”

That reaction showed him there was a real appetite for wildlife journalism — not just as “feel-good” content, but as reporting that could inform people about environmental issues and shift how they understand the world around them.

Reporting that travels

Some of Said’s most memorable feedback has come from far beyond Calgary.

He recalls writing a story for the Western Wheel about an “irruption” — a phenomenon in which certain owl species move closer to populated areas when food is scarce in their usual habitat. The piece was widely picked up and circulated online.

Later, while photographing owls, Said met two men visiting from the United States. They told him they had travelled to Alberta specifically because they had read an article about increased owl sightings.

“At that point, I was writing for a community newspaper, right? Serving Okotoks and Foothills County, that’s a small newspaper circulation of 17,000 print copies. So for that article to have been read by people in the States who then flew up to Alberta to look for these owls themselves after reading my article, it really goes to show that these stories can really go beyond a local audience,” Said says.

He has also seen his analytics show readers accessing his wildlife stories from Europe and Asia. It’s a reach, he says, rare in many local hard news pieces. More recently, a student from a Mennonite colony in rural Manitoba contacted him for a school project after reading his work.

“It goes to show with these stories that I’ve become known for telling that they resonate with such a wide audience. People across Canada, across North America, and across the world read these stories and take action based on these stories. I think it’s a really cool opportunity to tell stories that resonate with such a wide audience,” he says.

Balancing storytelling with science

Said is careful to stress that effective wildlife reporting requires more than passion. While his passion for the beat stems from personal knowledge, he relies on a broad network of scientists, naturalists, biologists, and conservation experts to ensure accuracy.

“I would never call myself an expert,” he says. “But I have a vast network of people I can call to fact-check and add scientific legitimacy to the stories.”

That attention to accuracy becomes especially important when covering serious incidents such as bear attacks. Said says those stories should include sensitivity and an explanation of why incidents occur and what people can do to stay safe, rather than simply reporting the incident itself.

A shift in perspective

While the animal photography in his stories may be cute and cuddly, Said explains that he aims for his wildlife stories to go beyond the label of “soft news.” Instead, he sees them as another way to serve the public with knowledge and to give them a chance to critically examine their environment.

“I want to tell stories that resonate with people and actually make you stop and reconsider how you look at the world around you,” he says.

For Said, that shift in perspective is the ultimate measure of impact: not just clicks or shares, but whether a story encourages people to slow down, notice their surroundings and better understand the natural world they’re part of.