
I wanted to share a top ten of my favorite bird photos of the year. Some are more because of what the photo represents than its pure photographic quality. In no particular order:

A male Volcano hummingbird. This might be the species I most photographed this year as I worked on authoring the updated Birds of the World article for this species (published earlier this month!)

A male Three-wattled Bellbird. I'd heard these a bunch but got to photograph them for the first time in March and managed to catch this one mid-barrel roll.

A Galapagos Petrel. This is the northern-most documented sighting of the species and I have a paper waiting publication about its range.

I hadn't done a dedicated Quetzal photo session in a while, so it was nice to get some great shots again of this emblematic species.

Who doesn't love a Keel-billed Toucan?

Was glad to finally photograph a Spangle-cheeked Tanager this year.

I never get tired of photographing the Fiery-throated Hummingbird.

I got some great shots of by far the hardest of Costa Rica's six toucans to track down - Yellow-eared Toucanet.

I got to watch this little guy grow up right in front of my house. Spectacle owl

And my mega-lifer of the year - Steller's Sea-Eagle.

A male Volcano hummingbird. This might be the species I most photographed this year as I worked on authoring the updated Birds of the World article for this species (published earlier this month!)

A male Three-wattled Bellbird. I'd heard these a bunch but got to photograph them for the first time in March and managed to catch this one mid-barrel roll.

A Galapagos Petrel. This is the northern-most documented sighting of the species and I have a paper waiting publication about its range.

I hadn't done a dedicated Quetzal photo session in a while, so it was nice to get some great shots again of this emblematic species.

Who doesn't love a Keel-billed Toucan?

Was glad to finally photograph a Spangle-cheeked Tanager this year.

I never get tired of photographing the Fiery-throated Hummingbird.

I got some great shots of by far the hardest of Costa Rica's six toucans to track down - Yellow-eared Toucanet.

I got to watch this little guy grow up right in front of my house. Spectacle owl

And my mega-lifer of the year - Steller's Sea-Eagle.