Crops & Clips: Flashback to January, 2021 #1091

As I do on the first Thursday of each month, I enjoy looking back over my archived photos, taken three years previously, in January, 2021, to remember how things were then as contrasted with events this year at our new home in Connecticut. As usual, I searched for images which reflected favorite memes: critters of all kinds (especially birds), skies and clouds, reflections, flowers and scenes which speak for themselves. We spent the entire month at home in Florida. I processed 526 photos.

On New Years Day we were out early to watch the setting of the waning Cold Moon of December 29. The sky was already blue before the Moon approached the horizon, so we were not treated to the brilliant colors of moonset as we had photographed only days before. However we made creative use of the moon as a backdrop.

A Boat-tailed Grackle postured on a treetop:

Earlier, I tried to photograph a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron against the twilight sky and accidentally included moon-less Planet Venus:

Full Wolf Moon on January 29:

The local Bald Eagles were still working on their new nest into late January. 

The male usually gathered the sticks:

Sometimes he was over-ambitious and this led to disputes with his mate:

The nest observers all were concerned about the eagles' selection of this nest site, as there were no substantial side branches. The eagles tried to weave large branches into the structure. On January 28 they were still working, almost a month after the time when eggs were normally laid:

This stick was too big to fit into one frame:

Belted Kingfisher male:

A Loggerhead Shrike and a male Northern Flicker perched shoulder-to-shoulder:

Not to be overlooked, an American Kestrel in early morning glow:

A Bobcat walked out into the path in front of me:

A Gulf Fritillary sipped nectar:

An unusual bowl-shaped lenticular cloud persisted in front of the rising sun. These stationary clouds usually form over mountain peaks and are rarely seen over flat terrain:

The western sky at sunrise is the backdrop for the foggy pine bank, January 23:

Back yard sunrise on January 24

This week's header: Anhinga, January 3, 2021

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Linking to:

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

Garden Affair

All Seasons

Image-in-ing

Nature Notes

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World
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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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