The pine grosbeaks have been pretty active lately though it’s unusual for them not to be active during the winter. I can have 30 or more in the yard at any given time though more typically there’s only about 5 to 10. A few days ago, after receiving about 6 inches of soft, fluffy snow, the pine grosbeaks were active bathing in the white fluffy stuff. They would basically bury themselves to the neck and then shake vigorously. In the photo below of a female, notice the snow flying as she shakes herself out of the snow.

Round Prairie, in Yellowstone National Park’s north east corner, is a special place to me. The relatively flat meadow is surrounded by mountains and is one of the few places in Yellowstone were you can get a more classic mountain type scene though interesting foregrounds can be challenging to find. The Absaroka Mountain range dominates the views here and even from a distance further away than Round Prairie, as seen here from along Soda Butte Creek, the mountains still provide a stunning view. Round Prairie was where I saw my first Yellowstone wolves which was the alpha pair of the Druid Peak pack way back when. I didn’t realize at the time how fortunate I was to see them. Again, this view is from a little further west than Round Prairie but is no less stunning.

The setting sun at Great Fountain Geyser in Yellowstone National Park is one of the coolest things to witness as the sky reflects in the terraces of the geyser’s large platform.

I’m going back in the vault for this one which was taken in October 2019. The conditions were perfect for photography as the sun lit Mount Moran but there were still nice clouds behind the peak as well as valley fog and near peak autumn color. Finding unique compositions of popular places can be difficult but when you’re able to pull it off it certainly can feel rewarding.

Mountain chickadees are frequent visitors to our yard and are one of a handful of species that can be seen year-round. We have two nest boxes and both are used by mountain chickadees each spring. Yet I often watch them as they fly around the yard because they can be seen doing some rather comical and acrobatic maneuvers. This one was working on a pine needle while hanging upside down. Curious as they are, they often perch on my lens while I’m photographing.

It seems appropriate that the first photo I took in 2021 was of a pine grosbeak given that it’s the most common and regular visit to our yard in the winter. I was waiting for a different species but when this male pine grosbeak landed on this perch, the pose and light was too good to pass up!

This is my final post in the “Best of 2020” Series I’ve been doing over the past couple of weeks. Shortly I’ll be back to some more recent images. But these three were certainly favorites. The Savannah Sparrow above was one of those moments where I just hoped to get close enough to photograph it while it stayed perched on the lupine. Not only did it stay put, but it also began to sing, so I certainly was fortunate!

In 2019 I was able to photograph quite a few short-eared owls but all perched and usually on a sign post or fence post. 2020 I didn’t see as many shorties but the few I did were always too far away when perched so flight shots were the only options I had. Of course, as this owl circled back with the mountains as the backdrop, it was pretty spectacular!

Swallow migrated through in the spring in large numbers and I found a huge mixed flock of four different swallow species. Different groups would take flight and try to catch insects while others would land and rest. This violet-green swallow was surprisingly cooperative as it allowed me to capture this image. As my wife’s favorite of my images this year, this one is now printed in metal and hanging in our house! Thanks for coming along as I post my best moments in an otherwise challenging year.

As I continue with my “best of” series, the photo above is actually now a metal print in our home. I always wanted to photograph hummingbirds, even before I became a bit of a “bird nerd.” Being home more in 2020, I spent more time watching what has happening in the back yard. I first noticed a single hummingbird drinking water off leaves from a tree. I immediately set a hummingbird feeder out there. For almost two months I had multiple hummingbirds coming at most times of the day comprising three different species. This photo was early in the morning and I spot metered on the bird. The shrubs in the foreground and tree in the background were in shade while the bird had direct light on it, a scenario I enjoy, when it happens.

Red crossbills come in a variety of color and this young male will darken to red as he matures. He showed up in early spring, before I had taken my feeders down. When he first arrived, he was extremely weak, to the point I thought he would die. He wouldn’t fly more than a few feet and I actually could have picked him up, if I had tried. I honestly didn’t think he would survive and had initially thought he might have been injured. I photographed him to actually try to identify any injuries and couldn’t see any. Even when he flew a short distance, his wings looked fine. He never left the yard and often just sat on a feeder, but each day he would move around more and his flying was stronger. I noticed he was flying from one side of the yard to other and one day, a flock of 3 other males showed up. He flew off with them. They all returned for several weeks and I was very happy that he had found my yard and he was able to regain his strength from my feeders. I’ll finish this series out with one more post this weekend.

Perhaps the coolest birding moment of 2020 happened early in the season but I didn’t realize it until I saw the photo on the computer. I was photographing this Mountain Chickadee as it perched briefly. There were a few snowflakes coming down but there were also plenty of breaks in the clouds. The first photo where I noticed the snowflake was actually the one I took before this one when the snow flake was still in the air. Then I saw this image. It is cropped a bit from the original image but held up well.

I chose this image at the insistence of my wife. While I loved the branches, background, and light, I wished the warbler was more visible. But she liked how the bird was peeking at me through the foliage, so her vote carried it. Another reason I chose this image though is because Yellow Warblers had been a bit of a Holy Grail bird for me. Though common, I hadn’t had a lot of success photographing them until this summer. While I did come away with images with the subject more prominent in the photo, I still preferred this one due to the reasons mentioned already.

I’d like to start 2021 by thanking everyone for their support over the past year and also to welcome you to my blog. After posting my “Best Photo Moments of 2020” to end the year, I’ll start this year with my best birding moments. I’ll make four posts this week featuring a total of ten images. The first image, above, is of a Canada Jay in our yard. This moment was pretty cool, not just because of the flowers, but because we have a family of Canada jays that frequent our yard but this was the first time they brought they fledglings in during the summer. Followed by three fledglings, the adults came in and showed them around, including the location of both of our bird baths.

I’m always looking for opportunities to get more than one bird in a photo but it doesn’t happen often. Last Spring, I had more Cassin’s finches coming than I could count at times. These three obliged for a photo during an early Spring snow. I would have liked more depth of field but still liked the result.

Cedar Waxwings are one of my favorite birds due to their unique, striking appearance. Passing a seed or piece of fruit is a bonding ritual and on my best cedar waxwing day I saw and photographed the behavior repeatedly.