Normally I do a year-in-review post of my favorite images, but in 2024 the focus was on family instead of photography. So let’s welcome 2025 with a fun video of a goal recently completed. I took one of my favorite images ever, a picture of our kittens Goldilocks and Missy, and turned it into a full coverage cross-stitch design. I stitched it a little bit at a time over 2024, finishing it on the day after Christmas. Every time I completed 5% of the design, I took a picture. So here’s the video progression of the adventure.
May your 2025 be filled with joy, health, and love!
I had the opportunity to sit in the backyard with my Beast for a half hour over Thanksgiving. It was a cold morning and the birds were so grateful for my feeders and the bugs on my plants. Come and see who was visiting…
Painted Bunting
The Painted Buntings returned on schedule this year, in the first week of October. Now I get to sit in my home office and enjoy seeing four males at my feeder at once! I am very spoiled. :)
Orange-crowned Warbler
The Orange-crowned Warblers came back in mid-November. They love to hang out on the purple salvias, drinking nectar from the blooms. This one looks very determined to get a good drink!
Gray Catbird
Mieu! Mieu! The Gray Catbirds were out in full force. They meowed to me to remind me to go inside and feed Whiskey. You can see the new growth on plants that were heavily damaged by Hurricane Milton.
Northern Cardinal
Mrs. Cardinal was grateful for the seeds on my coral honeysuckle vine. The vine died suddenly at the end of the year, but I left it because the birds love to perch in the branches.
Palm Warbler
Mr. Warbles was active hopping around in the lawn. Every once in a while, he’d pull a bug from the grass and eat it.
Tufted Titmouse
The Tufted Titmice are one of my dad’s favorite birds. They are so cute, swooping in to grab a seed from the feeder, then taking it to a bush to eat. They were definitely enjoying their Thanksgiving feast!
But there was one bird who liked to chase away all the other birds. A bully bird. She was small and ferocious and she chased off doves, red-wings, buntings, and house finches. Ready to laugh? The bully bird was the smallest bird!
My dad joined me for a Thanksgiving afternoon walk at Oakland Nature Preserve. What better way to walk off our Thanksgiving dinners? I think it was the first day that the boardwalk was open after Hurricanes Ian and Milton. There were so many trees down along the sides of the boardwalk. Huge trees.
Hurricane damage off the boardwalk
One of my favorite places on the boardwalk is at the very end, near the dock. That’s where Rich and I found our first Pileated Woodpeckers many years ago as the bird photography bug was catching me. Often I can find flocks of mixed warblers and blue-gray gnatcatchers in that spot too. Well, now some of those giant trees are knocked on their sides. The base of this one had to be at least 20 feet across.
Giant oak tree knocked down by the storm
We saw bits and pieces of boardwalk boards in the trees. It must have been a huge effort to get the boardwalk repaired.
As good as it was to be out, the afternoon was not particularly birdy. This Eastern Phoebe perched in the treetop calling her name to us. Phoebe, Phoebe!
Eastern Phoebe
We wondered at the absence of small birds. Maybe it was too early in the afternoon for much activity. Maybe the birds were off celebrating Thanksgiving. Or maybe this Red-shouldered Hawk made it known that he was monitoring the area…
Red-shouldered Hawk
Of course I am not allowed to go out with my camera and return without a turtle photo for Rich. So here’s the turtle of the day!
