My Top 10 Favorite Images From My Blog for 2012~

This will be my first year to participate in

Jim Goldstein's Annual Blog Project.

 

It should be a fun way to share my top 10 favorite images from this past year. 

There are so many reasons that make certian images more special, more favored, so personal in nature to each of us who have the pleasure of viewing them. 

Like so many others, I take not hundreds, but thousands of images, every year. 

We then have to edit and then delete, or keep the best and then decide which of those we will share on our blog entries. 

Many times, I find that final selection the most difficult challenge and I end up using several in collages, and, or mosaics, and then can enjoy sharing more, than I could otherwise. 

This year was no exception, but I have narrowed my shares down to these final 10, and have left behind so many others that made something in my spirit soar.

I hope that these will be enjoyed by those who will have a chance to view once again, or possibly for the first time.

~ Happy New Year ~

Late emergence of a Monarch butterfly~

 First year Red-tailed Hawk ~

Gray phased Eastern Screech Owl...owlet~

Tree Swallow, one of my top 10 favorite birds~

Dusk in the mountains of southern Utah~

Final showing of wildflowers in Kentucky~

The above image was powerful to me, because of many reasons.

It is a hybrid...a cross breed of a Red-tailed Hawk and a Red-Shouldered Hawk.

A few weeks after photographing this beauty in nature, I was privileged to witness copulation of a male Red-shouldered Hawk and a female Red-tailed Hawk.

Then even later, I came upon the injured male Red-Shouldered Hawk and got it to Wingspan of Kentucky.  

He had severe head injuries, that would eventually take away his sight.  

After several months in his care, the manager peacefully put him down.

Nature at it's best, and worst~

Last January, the husby drove me to view the Sandhill Cranes in Tennessee. 

There were thousands of these gorgeous birds, and I can still remember fondly their voice sounds...it was amazing. 

My friend whom I met by doing a "Google"  search on love for Red-Shouldered Hawks...Vickie Henderson, was my inspiration for becoming a blogger going on 4 years ago. 

She also shares so much of her love for the Sandhill Cranes on her site and I had to include one of these images in my top 10 for 2012~

These last 2 images were taken during a snowfall on one of the

"Most Dangerous Roads in America"

also known as the

"Million Dollar Highway"

near Durango, Colorado~