Best of 2016

With Shutterfly disbanding its shared sites like mine, I'm revisiting my best-of-the-year pics here. Watching a pod of orcas play in the water around our boat off British Columbia was the highlight of the year. This was my favorite photo of 2016. 

🐳🐳🐳

A big male orca swims on its side while playing off British Columbia. I still haven't seen a whale breach, let alone captured it on film. Maybe some day. 

A beautiful bald eagle perches in a spruce tree outside Victoria. It almost makes you forget how Canada Air crams its passengers into seats like livestock. The seat in front of me was inches from my nose. I haven't forgotten, Canada Air.

A black bear wanders the coastline at low tide looking for crabs and other seafood. I photographed wildlife on Vancouver Island the same summer Bertie Gregory was there for his very first assignment for National Geographic. Ever since, I have had an affinity for him and his work. Both of us spent our days photographing bears, eagles and orcas. And both of us were obsessed with trying to find the reclusive coastal wolves that live on the island. But only he was successful! And his web program demonstrates why today he's one of the best wildlife filmmakers in the world.

A harbor seal splashes the water to get attention from tourists at Fisherman's Wharf. Here you can buy raw fish to feed them. It's a tradition that started when locals took pity on a blind seal. You can enjoy your lunch along the water with the seals. Splash all you want, buddy, you're not getting my California-style taco. But I'll never forget getting splashed by a wild seal!

A Douglas fir tree rises more than 250 feet in the air at Cathedral Grove. This tree was already 400 years old when Christopher Columbus made landfall. Wow.

Finding a pine snake in the New Jersey Pine Barrens is a lot easier when it's embedded with a GPS beacon. I accompanied conservationists studying these beautifully cryptic snakes. Development and intrusions into their habitat, particularly from off-road vehicles, are putting them at risk of extinction.

A baby cottontail comes out of hiding at night to greet her mom at Cape May Point State Park. Her siblings fell prey to predators, but she survived by hiding in her warren when her mom wasn't close.

After nursing, it was time to play! 

An oystercatcher lays its egg next to the beach footpath at Cape May Point State Park. The park later closed off the path to give the oystercatchers some space. These birds are ferocious parents. I have seen them chase hawks and eagles away.

Cape May Light is reflected in a rain puddle. I was so lucky that Cape May Point State Park was my local park for most of my time in New Jersey. And every time I visited, I told myself I wasn't going to take any more pictures of the lighthouse. But I almost always did, ha. What a great landmark.

Have you ever seen a baby dove? One day, mourning doves made a new nest in the aluminum awning over my front door. When I stepped outside, I was startled by a flurry of terrified wingbeats in my face, so I removed the nest. When I got home, they rebuilt it in the same spot and I didn't have the heart to take it down again. I decided we were just going to give ourselves heart attacks every time I left the house. They raised three beautiful chicks in two clutches that summer.

A timberdoodle waits for the sun to melt the snow so it can resume looking for earthworms at Cape May Point State Park. These birds are easy to find in the sun-warmed spots along the roads after it snows. I love their little jitterbug dance.

Bunny meme. This one was just washing its face, but it looks like it's face-palming, ha.

This is one of my favorite photos from Cape May Point State Park. It's home to one of the world's smallest mammals, the short-tailed shrew. These ferocious little predators have skulls like jaguars. And they have a secret: they're venomous! But they're harmless to people. This little guy nearly climbed in my pocket while I was sitting on the trail to photograph him

A secretive American bittern perches in a tree at Lake Lily. This was the last photo I took before leaving New Jersey after 20 years of writing about the Garden State as a newspaper reporter.

River otters scamper over the ice at Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge.