It’s really late to be starting my #YearInReview series, but I’m going with “better late than never”!

Winter is birding season and January 2025 I participated in the Lake Claiborne (State Park) Christmas Bird Count for the first time. Claiborne is in the northwest corner of the state, so two birding and butterfly counting friends and I met at a nearby hotel the night before so we could begin counting early the designated day. I’m sorry to say, I did not save documentation of the count totals to my computer, but I do recall that the three of us identified 39 species. We worked hard trying to get the 40th but didn’t make it.

Nevertheless, it was a good and fun day of birding. My best shot from the day is a brightly colored Pine Warbler perched in its namesake habitat, a pine tree. I entered this photo in the Louisiana Master Naturalists Association statewide photo competition that takes place annually in conjunction with Rendezvous, our annual gathering for education, business and camaraderie. It won first place in the Professional-Habitat category.

I also went to Dauphin Island for a few days in January. It was cold! I did a lot of birding in interior spaces because the wind on the beach cut like a knife. Dauphin Island has many bird sanctuaries–major ones, like the Audubon Sanctuary, and many smaller ones under the auspices of Dauphin Island Bird Sanctuaries (DIBS), a small nonprofit actively working to preserve remaining patches of unspoiled nature on the island.

But the last day I was there, the wind finally laid down enough to make beach-walking pleasant. DI is known for its fabulous sunsets. But in my final moments of photography on this incredibly photogenic island, I walked east on Public Beach and captured a more subtle version–often my preference–of the sun setting in the west.

#YearInReview