Best of 2016...Don't Be Scared...Only a Hundred!

I take a lot of pictures.

Bet you didn't notice.

Actually, you probably have no idea.  I could not have existed as a photographer in the days of film cameras.  I have friends who work in film and take lovely artistic shots, beautiful as paintings, just a few at a time.  Me....I have to take a hundred shots to get two or three that I like, sometimes.  And I hoard them. But unlike a hoarder, I do take time to look back at them, because I find little clues, little insights, for instance, on bird behavior, and leaf patterns and cycles of snow and sunsets and moon rises and migration and foliage and plumage. Thrilling to me, maybe not so to everyone.  So I don't, like, pull them out to show when people come over. (I'm only a teeny bit tempted to do so.) All these pictures are stored on my computer, backed up with Carbonite so I don't lose them. The best or most memorable or iconic or amusing or strange I upload to Flickr.

So Flickr has something called "Best of 2016," where you can post what you think is your best shot of the whole year.  Just one.  I looked through my stuff...no way could I pick one.  So I thought to myself that I would pick one best from every month.  No way.  It started with one and then I had to add two more, until instead of 12, the number in my Best of 2016 album is:

165

Crazy picture-taking woman.

So I thought I'd show you and see what you think. And I'll edit (somewhat)  because I would have to upload them one by one here and I may get impatient and this will end up being like the 29 Best or something and because, well, some pictures deserve an explanation, and I am going to try (hard) not to bore you with that. Maybe in some of my pics the beauty or humor or quirkiness or whatever will speak for itself, but there are other pictures the are downright important and you might not see why, until I tell you and then you DO.  So if you are perplexed at why I chose a particular shot, you can ask me what's up with it.  Otherwise, my captions will be short and to the point.

So...

Here...

Lots of pictures to enjoy on a snowy day.

January 2016

I notice that my first pictures of both 2016 and 2017 are bird discovery pictures. Although I am just starting to scratch the surface of the new-to-me birds of the UP, these are some I enjoy and look for now:

Pine Grosbeak

Lovely Pine Grosbeak boy

Bohemian Waxwing

Black-capped Chickadee

Common Redpoll boy

 Something else that is new to me are the pinky pink sunrises and sunsets. So pink that the reflections make the snow turn pink as well

February

It's amazing how many different looks the Big Lake can have.  These pictures were taken about a week apart:

Beautiful, but desolate

Amazing Azure

 And, of course, birds:

American Goldfinch getting a drink

Female Common Redpoll

first of many shots of the glorious Evening Grosbeak in my yard

March

one of many many

In March, Bald Eagles are an every day thing

love the young ones!

But Snowy Owls...they are an extra extra special treat involving many hours on the road.

So very worth it!

April

April Fool's Day snowstorm and my first pic of a posing wolf

followed a few days later by a closer look

even a snowstorm doesn't stop us from trying to impress the girls

Although others of us are, frankly, confused by it

beautiful drive to work....yes, this is April in the UP

May

Finally, some spring green

tasty maple buds and porcupine

Bobolinks

Rare visit from a Northern Cardinal

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

June

Lots of pics, so I will just say...

Flora:

Columbine

Hawkweed and Hover Fly

more hawkweed

Lupines

Sweet Peas

Fauna:

Eastern Bluebird girl

boy

American Goldfinch girl

silly boy

twinsies

Little Blue Eyes

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Brown Thrasher and yummy worm

House Wren doing what a House Wren does

Ring-necked Pheasant girl

Rare in the UP Dickcissel

my favorite fauna/faun/merman

July

Wood Duck babies

Common Mergansers

Ruffed Grouse

through my window

damselfly

what happens when you eat too many Lucky Charms

wildflowers galore

Wild Rose

Queen Anne's Lace

Great Spangled Frittilary on Swamp Milkweed (with skippers)

Chicory

Birdsfoot Trefoil and skipper (maybe by next year, I will know my skippers)

Purple Finch

August

Clown in chair cloud

Experiment

the day my room turned pink

late fawn

vacuum cleaner

Peg

Pretty doe

curly bird

September

Trumpeter Swan

Where's George?

lichen

fire

Robbins Road

Amanita Muscaria or a sesame seed bun

maple

forest glow

fern and lichen

October

Larch yellow

Ostrich Fern

Rockland Pond

reflections

magic

Pied-billed Grebe

November

Mama Moose!

regenerating aspen

beautiful drive to work

Turkeys in the hay

Snow Bunting

Evening Grosbeaks posing for the cam

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (rare bird in the UP)

Rare bird in my yard!

deserves several shots

7th recorded in Michigan....2nd in the UP

Bullock's Oriole

December

more magic from Rockland Pond (yes, this picture is in color!)

Peg's favorite lookout

under cover

what's left of the sunflower (see July)

snow on alders

Blue Jay in the wind

December's daily horde

pretty boy Ring-necked Pheasant

One more look

pretty pink sky in my neighborhood

Well, that's it (finally).

Can you believe that's a hundred shots?  I hope you don't feel like that couple who comes to dinner and is forced to watch the vacation/wedding/birth/surgery (eww) videos.  These pictures make me happy in different ways.  And, don't worry (or worry just a little).  I haven't stopped. I've (only) taken 429 pictures so far this year. :)

So come over sometime.  I promise I won't show you all my pictures.   Maybe just 100 or so.

Happy Happy 2017!