My 10 favorite bird photos of 2025

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A female common yellowthroat, perched on a small brown branch in front of long green leaves, opens her beak wide to sing, almost appearing as if she's angry.

I’ve had a lot of fun reviewing the bird photos I took in 2025, and it took me several passes to sort out the top 10. Weirdly, on my first ranking, I discovered that a few of the birds that made my 2024 top 10 were included in my ’25 list.

Was I playing favorites with Eastern meadowlarks, common mergansers and great blue herons? Not so, but I reconsidered. At the top of the list I chose the one above showing a female common yellowthroat in full-throated exclamation. It’s one I hadn’t posted here previously. I took it June 21 at Mercer Meadows, although I can’t recall precisely where.

I admit freely that common yellowthroats are among my favorite birds. I have plenty of shots of them, mostly males, in profile or three-quarter views with their beaks open in song. Looking at the female, I can’t help but interpret the bird’s seeming rage as a metaphor for the divisive political climate of the United States. I shall make no further comment on that and leave us all to the beauty, joy and occasional humor that birds bring us.

For my second choice, I’m going with a double-crested cormorant just about to ingest a fish on Oct. 4 at Veterans Park in Hamilton. This may be my best image of the year, and — not unlike the fish depicted — I flipped and flopped over whether to designate it No. 1. It is the most dramatic and wild image I took.

A double-crested cormorant on a lake grabs a fish in its beak. The fish's head is pointing directly at the bird's throat.
2. Down the hatch!

While No. 2 shows the harsher side of nature, my third choice brings out its beauty. This Savannah sparrow was perched atop a plant with wine-red berries at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm, and the light was warm. When color and light converge, the odds of a memorable image increase.

Savannah sparrow perched a cluster of red berries.
3. Savannah sparrow on red berries.

I know you’re here for the images, so I’m going to ease off on the narrative and let the photos and captions carry you the rest of the way.

A ruby-throated hummingbird hovers just to the right of a tall stock of cardinal flower, with bright red blossoms.
4. A ruby-throated hummingbird floats by a red plant at Acadia National Park in Maine. Flecks of nectar can been seen by the bird’s back.
A bald eagle perches atop a bare tree limb, looking down toward the ground.
5. A bald eagle surveying the land from a tree top.
Eastern towhee sitting on a tree branch, turning its head to the left.
6. An Eastern towhee stands in the sun.
A green heron, feet obscured by grasses, stands on a downed log in a swamp.
A green heron perches on a log at the Dyson Tract swamp near the Delaware and Raritan Canal.
A yellow warbler takes off from a bare tree branch and flies toward a deep blue sky above.
8. A yellow-warbler takes flight at the Dyson Tract.
A blue-gray gnatcatcher clings upside down on a tree branch and pecks at a green leaf.
9. An upside-down blue-gray gnatcatcher snips at a tree branch.
A Northern harrier, its wingtips illuminated from behind by the setting sun, soars over a field and in front of bare trees in the background.
10. Northern harrier flying at sunset at the Pole Farm.

Thanks for following my blog, and I hope you enjoyed seeing these photos. (The gnatcatcher shot is also first published here.) 2026 is underway, and I’m looking forward to sharing more of my birding adventures in the months ahead. 🦅

Published by Dan

University media executive by day, blogger by night, I am a well-traveled resident of New Jersey

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