Five Special Selections for the Year ~

Our blogging friend Chris has challenged to share our five best shots used this past year and to write a few lines about why they are special to us...  should be fun, so here goes my entries and I hope you enjoy them as well as I have.  I cannot say they are all the best, but they reflect qualities that make them special favorites of mine~

My friend... the female Red-Shouldered Hawk bookends one of her offspring in this collage image and she is very special, since observing her since 1996 and knowing her time along the grove may not last much longer~

This was one of those wonderfully special moments when I was simply taking a drive along a beautiful country lane and I happened to see this Red-Tailed Hawk perched and hunting in a tree along side the lane~

The watercolour effect of this image is something that came as nature presented it and I love the way it shows off the Cedar Waxwing so beautifully~

The little American Tree Sparrow was so alert and such a lively little chap and it's eyes were so clear even as fresh snow fell.  Snow makes for a special ingredient to show of songbirds on the grove and beyond~

The state bird of Kentucky is the Northern Cardinal and the red males are usually shown more than the females.  While I enjoy the colouration of the males, I find the females just as attractive in their own right and this one was showing some great attitude while enduring the cold snow falling~