My two largest categories of images this past year were birds and butterflies. Mostly because we had lots of visitors from each category in our yard this year but also because my favorite targets when I visit places like Orlando Wetlands Park and The Aviary Reconditioning Center are birds. So, these are my picks in the Bird Category.

Third place goes to a Red Shouldered Hawk I found sitting in our large Pine tree in the back yard one morning. I have no idea what he had spotted in the brush along the fence line but he stayed there while I took his portrait.



Second place goes to one of my favorite birds, the Cardinal. We had a ton of them visit the yard this year and I captured some very nice shots of some of the boys but this girl was special. I spotted her in the butterfly garden at the Harry P. Leu Gardens here in Orlando and she was difficult to capture because the bush she was in was not easy to shoot in the clear. Because she's beautiful and because she made me work for this shot, she gets my nod for Second Best.



And my pick for Best Bird Shot is a duck I captured at Disney's Animal Kingdom. It's actually an African Pygmy Goose, part of a group of birds called Perching Ducks. Regardless, it has awesome plummage which was echoed in the water surrounding it.



Those are my Best Of Birds for 2013. Hope you enjoy them.

Jim