The tradition continues with my Photo of the Year for 2021, the 20th year I have done this. Since I spent most of the summer chasing bluebirds around my back yard, I thought the subject matter was obvious. This image of two young bluebirds arguing at my makeshift birdbath was my favorite of the literally thousands of images taken by trailcams, motion trigger, remote trigger, and manual trigger. Slight problem: Although the image was snapped August 8, I had not posted it on my web site until today. It did make it onto my blog Tom's Trailcam Central on Aug. 8. This particular image was with the Canon 1D Mark II and 500mm f4 lens, a combination I have used for many years. The difference with this image is it was motion triggered with the Camtraptions device I bought this year. For those who say those the bluebirds don't look very blue, they are fledglings and the blue will intensify as they get older.

Also under consideration were images from our trips to Yellowstone in January and March, our trip to Seattle in May, our local forest fire, Red Lodge 4th of July rodeo and fireworks, a trip to the Badlands which I haven't even posted, and various other things running through our yard.

The prize I used to award myself every year was a trip to Keokuk, Iowa to see the eagles on the Mississippi River. Since moving further west, I suppose the new prize will be a snowcoach through Yellowstone, which we may do in a month or so.

Squawking Bluebirds