That's a wrap. Or is it? Just when you think we are getting past COVID, along comes Omicron leading us into the next year. Well, at least 2021 is done.

I ended the year as I usually do, preparing for and participating in the Audubon Christmas Bird Counts (CBC).Christmas bird counts are held by different Audubon chapters in the days around Christmas. I once again helped coordinate my local CBC in the Long Beach circle and helped out with the Palos Verdes/South Bay chapter. Both were successful events. When those are done, I immediately start planning my January 1st event called the LB100. A group of us go out and try to find 100 species of birds within the city of Long Beach on the 1st day of the year. It is an all day challenge and I plan a route based on where the birds are, shortest driving route to maximize time for birding, and also, where there are bathrooms and places for a snack and lunch break.  The first 50 to 60 species are easy, but it is those last unique ones that become harder and harder to find. It is no small feat. More about that next month. 

Between planning for these events, family-fun holiday events, a bad bout of vertigo (now resolved) and chronic migraines, and a lot of well needed rain, the month went by fast. I didn't get out much beyond usual December events, so I took fewer photos. You will see some wet birds from the rain. I saw several Great Horned Owls and Red-shouldered Hawks, as well as a few other raptors. You can see one of the owls looking around him to the sky. Two Red-shouldered Hawks were chasing him away. They succeeded. I also saw a Red-shouldered Hawk catching a rodent, but he had it almost swallowed and gone by the time I got my camera up. Brown Pelicans are common and are good targets to photograph as they dive to catch fish. Maybe it was the location or my attention, but I thoroughly enjoyed capturing the dives. I tried and succeeded in capturing the point of water entry. I loved the angle of the neck and the closed eye.

I did attend one of my photography group's meetings, and they asked us to choose about six of our favorite photos from the year. As I looked back, I had a hard time choosing. My favorite photos are usually the ones I most recently took. Often it is not the photo quality, but the subject and story that went with it. I pulled a few into a folder and then selected a subset of those. I include the folder below as a summary of some of my favorites from the year.

I also like to look back at the summary of my observations in iNaturalist for the year. It looks like 2016 and 2017 were my biggest years of contributing to the site, but every year I add something. This year was more focused on birds.  https://www.inaturalist.org/stats/2021/kimssight

Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, Happy Nature Walks. Let's hope 2022 brings no more greek letters.

Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KimMooreNaturalist/

Watch the slideshows or click on the links to look through at your own pace. Links open in a new tab.

Enjoy the show! I always appreciate corrections to ID's.

Local Stuff:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/new_dec_2021

Some Favorites from the Year:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/best_of_2021