Trying to pick my fav images from 2021 was tough. I kept just over 10,300 images during the year and wanted to select 10.
I managed to select 50 and stalled.
I struggled to get them down to 15, but was stuck at 17.....
Not necessarily my best pictures, but ones with more memories/stories.
Not in order of "favouritism", just random.
Snowy owls come south every winter and we usually find some in the far west end of the city. This female/juvenile was sitting atop a power pole, as they often do, I took a number of static images and then it flew off the pole. The lens was zoomed out a little too far to catch the action properly and I amputated the "top" wing. PhotoShop reattached the wing tip.
I had never had a partridge/roughed grouse so co-operative before. This one was not too far from a feeder and seemed accustomed to people. While I kept lots of pictures from that day and from a second grouse camouflaged appearance in the fall, I liked this one the best because of the twisted leg action. (Although the camouflage images were a VERY close favourite to this one.)
I really like this group of three mallards amongst the others. They seem to be standing around having a nice social chat.
2021 seemed to be the year of the garter snake. I saw more snakes than I had ever seen before. This particular snake and I had a 20 minute photo session out in the Almonte area.
Behind the Bell arena we came across a "nest" of garter snakes in the early spring. There were 4 in the nest, but several more slithering away.
Behind the Bell arena we came across a "nest" of garter snakes in the early spring. There were 4 in the nest, but several more slithering away.
Not sure how much blood a bull frog has, but the mosquito seemed to be finding out. I didn't notice the mosquito until I was at home editing the pictures.
We were out biking on an old rail line east of the city in the early summer and came across a couple of snapping turtles working their way back to the water after having laid their eggs. The only camera I had was the cell phone.
Gypsy moths were a plague in the summer. The air was thick with them when we arrived at a cottage near Calabogie. Over the two week stay their ranks gradually thinned as the females laid eggs and died. This is a male (on top of an overturned canoe).
It's only a pink clover blossom, but the detail caught me off guard.
I only learned about hover flies in the past year. I just assumed all bee-looking insects were bees.
I was happy to see two distinctly different ones working a mullein. Top is a black horned smooth tail, and the smaller bottom one is an eastern calligrapher.
I was happy to see two distinctly different ones working a mullein. Top is a black horned smooth tail, and the smaller bottom one is an eastern calligrapher.
I have many fav images from Parc Omega, but this one of an elk seeming to say "A little to the left please" topped the list.
Chipmunks and the Round Lake cottage go hand in hand, this year was no different.
Inspired by mushroom images from a photographer acquaintance in Australia, I got carried way in 2020 and again in 2021.
See a wood duck, take a picture of a wood duck. Sometime I will stop taking so many wood duck pictures, but in the meantime the fall colours reflected in the water really worked in this picture.
I expended a lot of pixels working with a special feature on my camera to catch birds in flight. This one with the translucent wings really caught my eye.
One of the many trips to Parc Omega - arctic wolf in the spotlight.
Upper Canada Village had a second unusual summer with the various COVID restrictions. We had talked to one of the staff/actors in the Village during a summer visit and learned that he stands in for Santa during the "Alight at Night" Christmas lights display.
Because of Covid, Santa stayed in his workshop, but talked to the children through an audio system.
It was neat seeing him in both roles.
One of the many Mud Lake creatures caught in pixels.
One of 2 or 3 cotton-tailed rabbits we frequently encountered in a particular area along the trail.