The year’s first frames were disappointing. I stretched my camera’s zoom too far, resulting in poorly focused photos with a flat, grainy look.
Then there was a tempting glimpse of a kingfisher. (I couldn’t get any closer because there was a canal in the way.)
On my side of the canal, I watched this partially uprooted tree for a long time. Doesn’t it look like something should live under it?
In the end, after miles of aimless driving and four forays through a wind that was colder than I had expected, the day’s best photo was found in a roadside ditch…
Rae Spencer 
Wonderful photographs, Rae. Thanks for braving the cold winds. A belated wish for a Happy New Year. Hope many blessings come your way in 2013 and far beyond.
Thank you!
I’ve photographed all of two species so far this year, and none of the photos are worth posting. And I find kingfishers to be notoriously difficult to photograph, even without a canal in the way!
Number seven on my bucket list is “get a good photo of a kingfisher”. For some reason I became attached to them when I was very young, even though I only ever saw them in books. Mother’s bird identification book eventually broke along the spine at the Belted Kingfisher entry, from being forced flat on the table as I traced the sketch over and over again…
A couple of weeks back, i went bird watching and saw a Kingfisher at close quarters thrice, but everytime, it would sense me looking at him and immediately take off, The only passable shots that I got of it were when it was sitting far off at the water’s edge on a rock. They look so beautiful when they fly…it’s like a splash of blue flying past!
I’m jealous of your recent encounter! All three of my kingfisher sightings have been so far away that I wasn’t able to see them clearly, as they flew. I’m really looking forward to my first close-up!