Val Cunningham

Trumpeter swans are such handsome, regal birds that it’s sometimes hard to remember that they’re dabbling waterfowl that tip upside down to find a meal in the same manner in which mallards and other waterfowl do. Tim Flatley snapped a photo of a pair of swans feeding on the bottom of a local wetland.

A young American kestrel perches on top of a post in Carl Richard’s photo.
This youngster recently fledged from a nest box in a large park near Richard’s home, and even though we don’t know this bird, we know a couple of things about him.

Adam Carlson caught a fine photo of October’s comet, the Tsuchinshan-Atlas, named for the Chinese and South African observatories that first spotted it. This space rock from the outer reaches of our solar system passed within 44 million miles of Earth and won’t be back for 80,000 years.

Luck, skill, and patience: These are the Big 3 in an outdoor photographer’s tool kit. Kip Earney called on all three as he hunkered down in the bulrushes along a Mississippi River backwater some months ago.

Bob Sheetz photographed a hummingbird looking over its shoulder as it started a takeoff, hinting at the long journey ahead.
At this time of year, most of our ruby-throated hummingbirds are on their way to winter homes as far south as Panama. Males depart as early as mid-August, while females and juveniles leave in September.

Imagine having a ring-side seat for watching a river otter family this summer. Don Dinndorf and family were lucky enough to observe three young otters hunting crayfish, snails, and fish under their boat launch and near their dock all summer.

An osprey swooped down and snagged a fish in a pond as Cliff Price watched. But this was no ordinary wild fish: Price says there are many goldfish in this pond, probably released by someone cleaning out an aquarium.