Photo of the Year 2010

I was afflicted with employment in 2010, so pickings for Photo of the Year are thin. I actually considered whether to renominate "Little Brothers" from way back in 2004, but I'll settle for this plug: Buy "Nothin' but Puffins (and other silly observations" now available on Amazon.com. I also considered whether to pick a flower photo from New York gardens or the California desert.

But I've never selected anything except a wildlife image, so ultimately I decided to turn to a Mississippi River eagle photo for the third time (also 2005 and 2007). This one is from a very reliable roosting tree on the Keokuk, IA waterfront. If eagles are widely spread, as they were last February, there are always at least a few that can be found in or near this tree. I'm planning to head back to Keokuk in a few weeks, and I'm hoping to cured of the affliction I mentioned earlier sometime between March and September.

Keokuk Eagle

Here are my POY selections for 2002-2009.

Junior I 2002

Gentoo Penguins 2003

Little Brothers 2004

Bald Eagle 2005

Blue Jay 2006

Eagle with fish 2007

Great Horned Owls 2008

Custer SP Bighorn 2009

Squaw Creek again

I didn't make it down to see the eagles and geese and Squaw Creek NWR in northwest Missouri last year, so I wanted to make sure to get there this year. The refuge web site said there were more than 100 eagles watching the geese, but when I made it there on Friday there seemed to be more people than eagles. Maybe they (the eagles) have already started to move on. I snapped a few images Friday and Saturday morning before trying to beat a blizzard back to South Dakota. Instead I got stranded in Onawa, IA overnight before making it home.

If "10" is the best I've ever seen at Squaw Creek (see 2005 and 2006), I would rate this trip maybe a "4".

Missouri eagle