Birds

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #379 – Favorite Images of 2025

January 3, 2026January 3, 2026Posted in Birds, Nature, PhotographyTagged Favorite images 2025, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge55 Comments

Happy New Year!

Once again the Lens-Artists team is starting the new year by asking our followers to share their favorite images of 2025. Your images can be from a previous post or ones you’ve never shared before but they must have been taken in 2025. There is no single host for this challenge. The entire team is sharing the challenge.

In 2025 we went on a Mississippi River cruise, took a few short road trips, and had fun in New Mexico at my nephew’s wedding. When we weren’t wandering we enjoyed being at home in Coastal Georgia. Here are a few of my favorite images from the year.

January

The year began with a rare coastal Georgia snow storm. The featured image of a cardinal in the snow is one my favorites from the year. Later in the month we made a short trip to Jekyll Island.

Sidney Lanier Bridge, Brunswick, Georgia

February

We flew to New Orleans to begin a Mississippi River cruise.

Twin bridges over the Mississippi River lit up for Mardi Gras

March, April and May at home

June

We celebrated my birthday with a boat trip to Daufuskie Island, South Carolina.

Bloody Point, Daufuskie Island, South Carolina

July

We celebrated our 55th anniversary in Darien, Georgia.

August and September in the Garden

October

We had a fun trip to New Mexico for my nephew’s wedding and enjoyed seeing the beautiful Sandia Mountains.

Sandia Mountains, Albuquerque, New Mexico

November

The November morning skies were amazing.

December

The holiday decorations always add to the fun of the season.

I hope you will join us in the challenge by sharing your favorite photos of 2025. I’m looking forward to seeing your responses. Be sure to use the Lens-Artists tag in your post and include a link to this post or any member of the Lens-Artists team.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, January 10 at noon eastern time when Anne will be hosting our next challenge.

You can learn more about how to join the Lens-Artists challenges here.

Every Day is a Gift

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #378 – Last Chance 2025

December 13, 2025December 13, 2025Posted in Birds, Butterflies, Flowers, PhotographyTagged Last Chance, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge56 Comments

All of the members of the Lens-Artists team have joined together to host this final.challenge of the year. The challenge is to feature any of our favorite images that never made it into of the Lens-Artists challenge. The images can be of any subject but they must have been created in 2025. Here are a few of my favorites from this year.

One of my favorite images of the year never fit into any of the Lens-Artists challenges. In early May I discovered a female Diamond Back Terrapin laying her eggs in my garden. I kept a close watch on the nest but sadly none of the eggs ever hatched.

Butterflies, flowers and bees

I rushed out to the beach when I heard there was a marker buoy weighing around 13,900 pounds that had washed up on the beach at Tybee Island, Georgia. When I got there I found a mermaid, too!

Thanks for sharing lots of Holiday Fun last week for Ann-Christine’s challenge. I enjoyed all of the festive holiday images.

We hope you will join us in posting images from this year that never made it to a Lens-Artists challenge. Please remember to use the Lens-Artists tag and to include a link to this post or any of the Lens-Artists team member’s post.

Many thanks to everyone who participated in our Lens-Artists challenge this year. The Lens-Artists team will be taking a break until the end of the year so we can enjoy celebrating the holidays. We will return on January 3 with our annual end of the year Favorite Photos of 2025 challenge.

Wishing you a joyous holiday season and a very happy new year!

Every Day is a Gift

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #376 – Wings

November 29, 2025November 29, 2025Posted in Birds, Butterflies, PhotographyTagged Air craft, Airplanes, Angels, Butterflies, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, US Army Air Corps, US Navy Blue Angels, USAF Thunderbirds, Wings99 Comments

This week it’s my pleasure to host the Lens-Artists Challenge. I am challenging you to feature anything with wings. To give you a few ideas I am featuring some of my favorite things with wings.

Bird Wings

Butterflies and other insects

Angels

Military Aircraft

My final examples are of military aircraft. My father was a pilot in the Army Air Corps in World War II and later flew several other types of planes including the B52. The first three planes in this gallery were taken at recent air shows I attended. The images of the B24 and B52 are from my father’s photos.

U. S. Navy Blue Angels — U. S. Air Force Thunderbird

When you think of wings do you think of birds, insects, angels and airplanes? Maybe you think of art work featuring fantasy beings like dragons and fairies. Whatever you think of I hope you will join in for this week’s challenge. I can’t wait to see what you come up with. Be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to this post.

Last week you showed us some creative mysterious images in your responses to Patti’s challenge Mysterious.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, December 6 at noon eastern time when Ann-Christine will be hosting the challenge.

For information on how to join the Len-Artists challenge please click here.

Every Day is a Gift

Sunday Stills – World Animal Day

October 9, 2025Posted in Birds, Nature, North Carolina, Photography, Texas, WildlifeTagged Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Bugling Elk, Cataloochee Valley, Photo Challenge, Sunday Stills, Whooping Crane, World Animal Day18 Comments

Terri’s latest Sunday Stills challenge is World Animal Day which was celebrated on October 4, 2025. Two animals that were on my bucket list were Whooping Cranes in Texas and Elk in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Seeing these animals in the wild was an amazing experience.

Whooping Cranes

According to the International Crane Foundation – North America, Whooping Cranes were near extinction with fewer than 20 individuals in 1941. Today, over 849 Whooping Cranes exist in the entire world.

We traveled to the Texas Gulf Coast one year hoping to see some of the Whooping Cranes who winter in and around the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. These birds breed at Canada’s Wood Buffalo National Park and migrate to Texas every winter. Today there are more than 500 of these beautiful birds.

We found these magnificent Whooping Cranes near Goose Island State Park, south of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. I posted about this amazing experience at Magnificent Endangered Whooping Cranes.

Pair of Whooping Cranes, near Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

Cataloochee Valley Elk

One fall we traveled to Waynesville, North Carolina in search of Elk in Cataloochee Valley on the eastern side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I posted about our Elk viewing adventure at Cataloochee Valley Elk.

In February, 2001, the National Park Service began an experimental reintroduction of elk into Cataloochee Valley by releasing 25 elk from the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area on the Tennessee-Kentucky border. Another 27 elk from Canada were released in 2002. Today there are approximately 200 elk.

Bugling Elk, Cataloochee Valley, North Carolina

The breeding season, also known as the rutting season, is in the fall. During this time the bull elk make their bugling calls to attract females and challenge other bulls.

Female Elk, Cataloochee Valley, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

Female Elk, Cataloochee Valley, North Carolona

Many thanks to Terri for her Sunday Stills challenge World Animal Day

Every Day is a Gift

Roseate Spoonbills in the Neighborhood

September 19, 2025Posted in Birds, Nature, PhotographyTagged Coastal Georgia Birds, Pink Feathers, Roseate Spoonbill, Wading Birds39 Comments

I was getting ready to make a trip to the grocery store yesterday when one of my friends texted me to let me know there were Roseate Spoonbills in some trees by the side of the road on the way out of our neighborhood.

I grabbed my camera and my telephoto lens before I left home and hoped the birds would still be there. Lucky me! Two of them were still still around.