My Favorite Photos of 2023
As we’ve turned the corner into the new year, it’s time for me to show off my favorite photos of the year. I’ve been doing this since 2007, and you can see all of the year galleries here. In previous years I’ve called these my best; I’m honestly not sure if that is ever accurate, but this year, especially, calling them my favorites makes sense.
It was not a prolific year for me — I added 117 images to my library, about half the number I added in 2022, and less than 2021, my previous slowest year. That said…
Of those 117 images, almost a quarter got rated as high quality images, and another 6 ended up tagged as portfolio quality. I typically rate my images as 3 star (good enough to use), 4 star (high quality) and 5 star (portfolio). Having that many notable images out of a small overall collection is quite unusual for me, but it makes me happy to see. To be honest, there were two other images I strongly considered rating as 5 star but ultimately decided against it.
For those curious, I will generally limit my ratings to three stars or discard when I do my initial reviews. It’s at the end of the year where I compare all of the images of the year to each other and previous years and start selecting standouts. 2022’s final ratings were unusual enough I went through a second time on a different day to validate my choices, and didn’t see anything I felt I should change.
The high number of stand-out images were helped by two very successful outings, my first trip to Ridgefield this fall, and a spring afternoon with the bald eagles out in Seabeck. To be honest, five of the eagle images could have been placed in this year end collection, but I decided to limit myself to one to make this collection more diverse — hence why I think “favorite” is a better term then “best” this year. I also think the shift from Fuji to Sony has helped in the overall image quality, because of the big improvement in autofocus, and because of the larger sensor giving me the ability to make good images out of more distant birds without losing detail. (note: gear, of course, doesn’t matter, except, of course, it definitely does. A discussion for some other time)
While it’s easy to lament the small number of additions — I always want to shoot more — I can’t think of the year as anything but a success, given what I see as the quality of the additions. Going through 2023’s images leaves me happy with what I did get done, and looking forward to doing even more here in 2024.
These images are in calendar order, not ranked. All of these shots were taken with the Sony A7 IV unless otherwise specified. My primary birding lens is the Sony 100-400 with the 1.4X teleconverter attached, and it was used unless otherwise specified. I’m also happy that some of my non-bird images made the cut this year, even though I didn’t do a lot of landscape and wide-angled work.
Adult Cooper’s Hawk, Silverdale, Washington
This hawk is a bird (along with a Great Horned Owl for a few months, a Barred Owl, and during migration, a Sharp-Shinned Hawk) that has been visiting the yard on and off. As a result, I was able to get some nice shots, and we have somewhat fewer Mourning Doves around the feeder than we used to.
Mt. Olympus in the clouds, Seabeck, Washington
Mt. Olympus peeks out from the storm clouds on a cool and blustery day in Seabeck, Washington. Taken with the 100-400 lens but no teleconverter.
Barred Owl, Silverdale Washington. Taken with the iPhone 14 Pro from my home office. Another of the predator birds we see and hear around the property on a regular basis.
Spotted Towhee bathing, Silverdale, Washington
One of the Spotted Towhees that frequent the area outside my home office and enjoying a dip in the bird bath.
Bald Eagle, Seabeck, Washington
one of a number of great eagle pictures from an almost legendary outing to spend time with them last spring. An interesting note on this bird, is if you look closely at it’s head, it’s, well, pretty bald and seems to be missing much of the feathering around the face. Very distinctive bird.
Glaucous-Winged Gull with lunch, Seabeck, Washington
I was sitting watching the eagles when I suddenly heard a loud crack, and then this bird flew in. It had grabbed a clam and then dropped it from a height to crack it maybe 25 feet from where I sat. It happily removed the meat from the clam and proceeded to eat it, ignoring me and the other people close by.
Sandhill Crane, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, Washington
My year is not complete without spending some time with the cranes every winter. I was lucky enough on this trip to find a small group fairly close to the auto-tour route and completely uninterested in the good number of cars with big camera lenses poking out near them.
Cackling Geese, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, Washington
Bird Photo? Landscape Photo? Abstract? I don’t care, I love this kind of image…
Great Blue Heron, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, Washington
Found this bird out a fair distance from the roadway in Ridgefield (thank you, large full-frame sensor). This is the bird taking off to head to a new hunting spot — and for what it’s worth, I was far enough away that I don’t believe I caused it to me (and the 2 minutes or so before it moved on also indicates that… I hate displacing birds as I watch them and try to avoid it as much as possible)
Tundra Swan, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, Washington
Out of a flock of 75+ Trumpeter Swans scattered through the refuge on this trip, one of the big white birds turned out to be a Tundra Swan and was happy to sit for a portrait.
