It's the last day of the year, and that generally means you need to find an appropriate way to wrap up/summarize the year that has passed.  In my case, photographically.

The first thing that comes to mind is a reflection of some sort.  Of course, that is something of a cliche.  But, reflection of a different sort can lead to something appropriate.

In a lot of ways, this past year has been (for me) one for the birds.  Yes, that means just what you think, but also more.

I've taken a lot of good bird photos this year, and a lot of them are ones I've never managed to capture before.  Hooded mergansers, hummingbirds, horned grebes.  I've also been happy about some of the mallards, turkeys, coots and others that I came across.

It has also been a good year for travel/flying.  I got back to New York for the first time in over 5 years.  Visits with family over holidays and weddings.

So, flying birds is a good theme.  Since it is the end of the year, it should be a sunset image as well.  That makes the choice easy.

Here's an image from several years ago of sandhill cranes at sunset.  This image has not been tweaked in any way whatsoever.  No changes to hue, saturation or contrast.  No cropping.  What you see is what I saw.

Happy New Year to everyone who reads this (and everyone who doesn't as well)!

sandhill cranes