Ranking one’s favorite photos is a difficult task, akin to ranking one’s favorite desserts, cars or children. While over the span of a year I take scores of clunkers, I also look back fondly on the keepers.
My list of favorites is a mish-mash: some make the list for their technical quality, others rate because I find the birds appealing.
My top image is, appropriately, at the top of this post. It shows a red-tailed hawk swooping across a field at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, which itself is my favorite birding location. I took the photo on April 27 while birding with my friend Andy, and that day was probably my single best day for birds and photography combined this year. The photo, taken on my Canon SL2, is clear and sharp, thanks to plentiful sunshine. Give credit to the bird, too: it cooperated by flying in and out of a tree near the parking lot.
While that shot shows a bird in flight, my No. 2 favorite features a great blue heron standing still at the Millstone River impoundment in Princeton on Oct. 19. With my SL2 starting to fail, I brought my old Canon XT out of mothballs and used it to capture the heron framed by branches.
Most of my shots tend to zero in on the birds, but my No. 3 favorite is a wide shot I snapped of an Eastern meadowlark at the Pole Farm on Oct. 12. It was the last best shot I got out of the SL2. I have since upgraded to a Canon R7.
I was going to switch to a gallery for the remaining shots, but WordPress isn’t cooperating (i.e., I messed something up). So here are the others. Apologies for the different caption styles — and happy new year! 🦅
The Jersey Birder 
A wonderful collection of images for the year. I’ve enjoyed following your posts. Glad to hear you are getting comfortable with the new camera.
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thanks very much and happy new year!
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Breathtaking photos! I see red shoulder Hawks most of the time in a few red tail . A couple of my favorite Birds. I don’t get to experience an owl often enough to take a photo. Usually on my horse and I see one and at that point I just enjoy it because if I were to take out my camera or my cell phone, I’d lose the image and the feeling it’s allowing me to experience.. But all birds are so incredibly beautiful. Great shots and thank you for sharing
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Thank you very much. It’s a rare day when I get to see an owl, let alone get a decent photo of one.
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That kingfisher picture is wonderful! Thank you!
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Thanks very much. I was lucky the bird was so cooperative!
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Awesome job on capturing these marvels.
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