Date Of Post: December 30, 2023

Locations: All over New England

Summary: I often take photographs throughout the region but do not post the photos on WordPress. Attached are some photos I took during my travels this year.

What a year! I’m sure many of us are both sad and glad the year is over. Since I’ve been doing this photography thing, I look at the new year as a chance to reset, reevaluate my progress and see in what areas I can improve. I also look at it as a way to set goals for the upcoming year and see how far I have come. I think it’s important to highlight the accomplishments as well as areas to improve.

I was going to include all of the photos and stories I have from this year in one post. But, as I was going through my photos, I realized I have a lot to share and many photos I want to show! So, I decided to break up my posts in different parts. This particular post will show my wildlife photos from the year. I hope to not post more than 3 or 4! I hope I don’t bore you all with these posts! 

One of my favorite places to visit in New England is the Mass Audubon Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary. There are a variety of birds there (particularly during the warmer seasons before some of them migrate). However, a good amount of birds do stay all year long. These are some of the birds I photographed there this year.

I photographed this female Cardinal in December. People often ask how I get photos of birds. Easy. Go to where the food is. I tend to go to trees that still have berries on them. Also, people tend to feed the birds at this sanctuary (more on this later). And, although I never do some people do. So, I know some of the feeding areas at the sanctuary.

These are a few other birds I found looking for food or materials for nesting.

I also encountered something I hadn’t seen before: a Red wing Blackbird feeding a juvenile Red wing blackbird.

Some of the birds found their food more easily. As mentioned before, some people do feed the birds at the sanctuary. By hand. I love how they show the seed or feed before they fly away.

Other birds find their food the old fashioned way. This red tail hawk (affectionately nicknamed Jasper by the staff at the sanctuary) found his own meal during one of my visits.

I see Jasper there frequently whenever I visit the sanctuary.

But, there are many other birds at the sanctuary I was able to photograph such as these Blue jays, Yellow Throated Sparrows and Belted Kingfisher among others.

There were also deer and, of course during the warmer months, frogs and turtles aplenty at the sanctuary this year. I wish I had my settings correct for the second photo of the deer pictured below. It caught me by surprise as it was right near the entrance when I got there. But, as a photographer, you must always be prepared.

Some of the frogs were more stealthy than others.

The turtles were easier to photograph as they just like to lie out in the sun and don’t care if you see them or not. I love how this painted turtle just stretched out and basked in the sun. I do that too sometimes!

But, my personal favorites to photograph at this sanctuary are swans, herons, egrets and even a Barred Owl. They’re all such beautiful, graceful birds.

It’s easy to see why this sanctuary is my favorite place to visit and I usually make at least one visit a month to this gem.

But, I also like to visit other parks such as Cutler Park in Needham, MA, Wickham Park in Manchester, CT, Stanley Park in Westfield, MA as well as other parks in the New England area.

I photographed this wood duck in western MA. It was my first, and to date, only time I have been able to photograph one. He or she just flew and landed in the river as I was kneeling and, no pun intended, ducking while I waited for some activity. It flew away seconds after I started clicking when it heard the camera clicking.

I spotted this turtle as he or she came out from the grass at Stanley Park in Westfield, MA.

And, of course, there were chipmunks and squirrels galore during the warmer seasons. I always try to catch them in unusual poses or get them to look at the camera, or when their eyes are closed. This photo below may look like the critter is asleep. It was just lucky timing that he or she was blinking.

I don’t usually photograph gray squirrels as they are very common and, in my opinion, not overly appealing. But, I found this squirrel to be interesting and the fact he or she was beginning to build his or her nest in August sparked my curiosity. So, I did some research after I took this photo.

While most nest building for squirrels takes place during the fall, squirrels do begin nest building in June and July. This is done by mothers to teach their spring born young how to build nests.

Rabbits are particularly difficult to photograph. While squirrels and chipmunks will often get that “deer (or chipmunk) in the headlights stare” at you, rabbits will often flee at the first sight or sound of movement.

My next part will deal with some of the sunrise, full moon and nature shots from 2023! Thank you as always for reading and best wishes for the upcoming year!

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