As 2024 came to a close, so did the second year of my birding obsession, er, adventure.
This whole birding thing started for me on New Year’s Day 2023 when my wife I visited the Orlando Wetlands to check out the new Cypress Boardwalk. I decided to bring a camera along just for the heck of it.
As luck (or as my wife might prefer to say, curse) would have it, the weather was fantastic and the park was full of so many different birds. I took a lot of photos and was immediately hooked. I started making regular visits there and elsewhere with my camera.
As fun as that first year of birding was, the second one was even better. In addition to my regular places, I was also able to do some birding during trips to the Netherlands, Scotland, England and the Bahamas as well as Nevada, Arizona and even the Florida Keys.
Out of the thousands of pictures I took during the year, I narrowed them down to my Top 25 favorite photos of 2024, plus some honorable mentions.
They’re listed in chronological order.
My Top 25 for 2024
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Joe Overstreet Road in Osceola County, January 2024.Anna’s Hummingbird, Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve outside Las Vegas, February 2024.Sandhill Cranes, Joe Overstreet Road in Osceola County, February 2024.Great Horned Owl mom and owlet, Osceola County, February 2024.Reddish Egret, Fort DeSoto Park, February 2024.Savannah Sparrows, Joe Overstreet Road in Osceola County, March 2024.Northern Parula, Orlando Wetlands, March 2024.Roseate Spoonbill, Orlando Wetlands, April 2024.Great Egret chicks and their mom, Orlando Wetlands, May 2024.Rose-ringed Parakeet, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, May 2024.Blue Tit, Water of Leith Walkway in Edinburg, Scotland, May 2024.European Goldfinch, Water of Leith Walkway in Edinburgh, Scotland, May 2024.Barn Swallow, Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, June 2024.Great Egret, Lake Newton Park in Winter Garden, June 2024.Common Gallinule mom and chick, Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, July 2024.Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Orlando Wetlands, August 2024.White Ibis, East Gator Creek Road at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, August 2024.Little Blue Heron, Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, September 2024.Black-throated Green Warbler, Fort Zachary Taylor State Park in Key West, October 2024.Vermilion Flycatcher, Orlando Wetlands, November 2024.Male Belted Kingfisher, Orlando Wetlands, November 2024.Male Hooded Merganser, Oviedo, December 2024.Loggerhead Shrike, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, December 2024.Black-and-white Warbler, my backyard, December 2024.American Robin, Orlando Wetlands, December 2024.
My Honorable Mentions
While it did not make my Top 25 list, I have to recognize my picture of an Indigo Bunting at Orlando Wetlands. It won an honorable mention in the Orange Audubon Society’s annual photo contest and has been featured in one of their brochures and newsletters.
Indigo Bunting, Orlando Wetlands, April 2024.
After I wrote this post and picked the top 25 photos days ago, I ended up seeing and photographing an endangered Whooping Crane in Osceola County on New Year’s Eve. I had to include that here, too.
I visited Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive this past Sunday knowing I would see a lot of different birds there but hoping to see one kind in particular: Barn Swallows.
I took advantage of the time change to visit Orlando Wetlands before work on Monday, enjoying a spectacular cool morning and coming across two new-to-me birds there.