2025 was full of opportunities to strengthen my photography skills! While I enjoyed taking more shots of the birds in our neighborhood, I let myself branch out into other subgenres of nature photography. I especially loved taking pictures of butterflies and flowers.

Highbanks Metro Park, my favorite park where I live, was the site of some of my best shots. I’m forever fond of the house sparrow pictures I took there this year.

I have many highlights that I’m fond of, starting with the birds dearest to my heart: the descendants of my best bird buddy.

Sam Jr. and Sam the 3rd

The biggest highlight of 2024 was bonding with Sam, an incredibly personable and bold song sparrow in our neighborhood. Sam would burst out of the bushes lining our house and sing when he saw me walking.

A picture of a song sparrow named Sam enjoying a quiet evening perched on a sunlit, leafy twig.
My favorite photo of Sam from 2024

He passed on all of this to his son, whom I lovingly named “Sam Jr.” Sam Jr. turned out to be even bolder than his father!

An unusually bold song sparrow singing at the camera while perched on a twig.
It looks like he’s shouting, “Notice me already!”

My favorite moment with Sam Jr. was in March, when he surprised me with a “front row” treat of a singing performance by our backyard:

A bold song sparrow looking at the camera while perched on a twig.
A proud song sparrow singing on a twig while basking in morning sunlight.

In November, I had the pleasure of meeting Sam’s grandson, aptly named “Sam the 3rd”. I recognized him by his familial boldness, hopping closer to me between small songs.

A cute song sparrow in fading grass.

I’m honored that Sam passed on his trust in me to his son and grandson. I feel like an honorary great-uncle!

Birds of 2025

I was a bit picky about the bird photos I took in 2025. They’re still my favorite subjects, but I’ve encouraged myself to focus on particularly endearing moments, instead of (at times, desperately) trying to photograph every bird I see.

Here are some of my favorite bird shots from 2025:

American Robins

Robins are my favorite songbird. They’ve taught me much about proper birding etiquette, and I mean that sincerely! Our neighborhood robins would admonish me if they saw me getting too close to other birds, and they would conversely inspect me close-up if I pleased them with politeness.

I took these robin shots at Inniswood Metro Gardens, a park I started visiting in 2025. These robins were especially people-friendly!

A male American robin looking pensively to his left, his shadow stretching across the bricks in front of him.
A pensive fellow
A calm male American robin basking in fading sunlight, his brown eye illuminated.
He was so close to me when I took this shot
A pensive male American robin facing mulch.
Another chill robin
A male American robin perched on a branch and facing the setting sun, a streak of light illuminating his brown eye.
This is my favorite robin shot from 2025
A male American robin looking quizzically at the camera.
He looked incredibly quizzical

Sparrows Galore

I love sparrows of all kinds! While American robins are my favorite species, sparrows are my favorite type of bird. While small, they seem oddly used to people compared to other birds.

Something I’ve learned is that house sparrows (one of the most common birds seen everywhere here in the States) count as “Old World Sparrows” while song sparrows and their cousins are “New World Sparrows”.

I’m pleasantly surprised by the sheer amount of sparrow photos I got in 2025! They made up the majority of my bird shots this year. Female house sparrows are surprisingly bold, and that boldness helped create some fun shots.

A female house sparrow on a chain-link fence, looking utterly unimpressed.
Female house sparrow looking unimpressed
A female house sparrow on a chain-link fence, looking endearingly curious.
But then, with a glance, looking sweetly curious
Two male house sparrows looking pensively away while perched on a branch.
Two male house sparrows
Two male house sparrows on a branch, one looking pensively away and the other giving the camera a grumpy look.
The one on the right looked incredibly grumpy
A female house sparrow looking away for a moment in a leafy green bush.
A female house sparrow whom I randomly named “Brunhilda”

The neighborhood song sparrows are always friendly with me. There are times when I can’t tell if I’m looking at a member of Sam’s lineage. Either way, it always lifts my spirits when they pose for my camera.

  • A sunny song sparrow perched on a telephone cable, sunlight glimmering in his eye.
  • A song sparrow perched on a dried teasel flower, looking like he's smiling.
  • A perky young song sparrow perched on a twig, looking excited.

Flowers of 2025

I took many flower shots across 2025! I’m especially fond of the goldenrod and aster pictures I got. I also learned that both of those flowers are cousins, part of the Asteraceae family.

Goldenrod

Goldenrod is one of our most common neighborhood flowers. What I love about them the most is that they remain beautiful long after they lose their namesake golden color.

I’m thankful to have gotten enough goldenrod shots to show how its color changes over time. Interestingly, they start out yellow-green.

Asters

Asters (especially New England and panicled asters) are my all-time favorite flowers! I’m fortunate that both our neighborhood and Highbanks teem with them when fall comes around.

It’s challenging to determine which exact species of white asters these shots show, except for the third one. My nature identifier app confirmed that they’re “hairy white oldfield asters”. What a name!

Michaelmas Daisies on Michaelmas

New England asters are also known as Michaelmas daisies because they bloom in large quantities around Michaelmas (September 29th). Michaelmas is, likewise, another name for the Catholic Feast of the Archangels.

I’m not Catholic, but this is a feast day I cherish, especially after the uplifting dreams I’ve had of St. Michael the Archangel that got me through some rough times.

I had the luck of visiting Highbanks on Michaelmas, and to my joy, the daisies were flourishing across the park!

As a fantasy side note, in The Lord of the Rings, September 29th is also the day when Frodo takes the ship to Valinor (also known as the Undying Lands or the Uttermost West). This passage out of the circles of the world is what gives him the healing and respite he couldn’t find in Middle-earth after everything he endured throughout the War of the Ring.

I find much symbolic comfort in Michaelmas daisies, and I loved seeing them continue to bloom even into mid-November! I took this shot on my smartphone outside of one of our libraries, thrilled to see them still flourishing:

A picture of sunny New England asters/Michaelmas daisies, focused on one blossom standing out among the bush.

Butterflies of 2025

My telephoto lens helped me take fantastic photos of the butterflies I found in my neighborhood and at Highbanks. I’m particularly fond of this shot of a male Zabulon skipper enjoying ironweed flowers at Highbanks:

A picture of an adorable Zabulon skipper butterfly facing the camera while enjoying purple ironweed flowers.

As with wildlife photography, it’s essential that you respect butterflies and not get so close that you startle them away. While they respect curiosity, butterflies have boundaries like the rest of us.

Something I learned in 2025 is that, as with flowers, taking butterfly shots at eye level creates a more impactful shot. Here are some of my best ones:

  • A picture of a radiant cabbage white butterfly on a yellow beggartick flower against a green background.
  • A silver-spotted skipper butterfly facing the camera while enjoying purple butterfly flowers.

The most frequent butterfly visitors in our neighborhood were: cabbage whites, monarchs, and both Zabulon and silver-spotted skippers. Both species of skippers loved our butterfly bushes!

Competition Successes

While I know they’re not the end-all, be-all of growth or success, I’m thankful that some of my shots were recognized in various photography competitions!

My cat niece, Clementine, helped me strengthen my portraiture skills in 2025, and I love these two portraits of her! This topmost one of her “shouting” (in mid-yawn) was recognized in the Bronze tier of awards (the level above Finalist) in Camelback Gallery’s “All Animals 2025” art competition.

A picture of a female tabby cat caught yawning in a way that makes her look like she's shouting, her shadow visible in the edited black-and-white background.
A portrait of a female tabby cat by a backdoor with a focus on her vivid green left eye and a black-and-white winter background outside.
A cute song sparrow calmly perched on a twig, pausing to glance back at the camera.
A sunlit pink tulip flower with many other tulips in the background.
A sunlit patch of silvery fading goldenrod flowers.

Sam Jr. in our backyard, golden-hour tulips at Inniswood, and a neighborhood patch of sunlit, fading goldenrod flowers also made it into competitions.

Something I’ve learned this year is that taking photos at eye-level creates a more immersive view for the observer. This made a big difference for my tulip and goldenrod pictures above.

Five Best Photos from 2025

I took many great shots in 2025, so picking my absolute best was tricky; I decided to limit it to five. I split my five best shots between my favorite subjects: pets, flowers, landscapes, butterflies, and, of course, birds.

Highbanks Metro Park provided many of my best shots this year!

Best Pet Picture: Duke’s Autumn Portrait

A portrait of a calm, sunny golden retriever dog with telephone wires overhead and colorful autumn trees in the background.

Duke is our family’s golden retriever, and he’s incredibly photogenic. His fur is radiant when he stands in sunlight.

For this portrait, I led him outside to our back porch on a sunny November afternoon. I love everything about this shot, especially how noble he looks!

Best Flower Picture: Golden Hour Panicled Asters at Highbanks

My favorite path at Highbanks is the Overlook Trail, which winds through both the forest and by a broad field that aligns with the setting sun. When I visited the park on Michaelmas (September 29th), I almost didn’t go to the field portion because I was exhausted.

I urged myself onward, and thank goodness I did! If I hadn’t, I would’ve missed these beautiful panicled aster flowers basking in the golden hour light.

Panicled asters are one of my favorite flowers. They can be distinguished from other species of white asters by their larger size.

Best Landscape Picture: Neighborhood Trees in Autumn

A landscape picture of golden autumnal trees against a sky with soft clouds scattered across.

Choosing my “best” landscape shot for my end-of-the-year blog post was tricky. Landscape photography isn’t necessarily my forte, as I usually focus on birds and other wildlife. From my beginner experience, landscape photography requires more planning and precision to shine.

This picture of some of our neighborhood trees in early November is one of my favorite autumn shots from 2025! It was a relief to see them in peak fall colors after the awful drought we had, which caused many leaves to turn brown and drop prematurely.

I’m thankful to have a wide-angle lens that isn’t fixed at a specific focal length (I’ve heard that 50mm is a popular wide-angle length). That flexibility makes taking landscape shots much easier, and also helps minimize the amount of cropping I need to do during editing.

Looking at this shot, I’m also thankful for the ability to have taken it, given how gloomy the weather was at that point. I also remember seeing the leaves fade and fall rapidly after that first week of November. Autumn truly is an ephemeral season, for better or worse.

Best Butterfly Picture: Stoic Eastern Comma at Highbanks

An Eastern comma butterfly stoically perching on the ground, casting a long, bold shadow amid the sunlit area.

Eastern commas are exceptionally bold butterflies that seem unbothered by people. This one saw me walking along a sidewalk at Highbanks during a September visit, and seemingly decided to pose for me.

He landed in front of me and didn’t flinch as I tentatively got closer with my camera. The sun was starting to set behind him, casting his shadow before him as he remained between a few fallen autumn leaves.

I realized after editing this shot that his left wing was damaged. When I look at his picture, I think about what he’s endured and how courageous he seems, as if he’s facing the future without fear.

Best Bird Picture: Two Male House Sparrows at Highbanks

There’s a chatty family of house sparrows by the nature center at Highbanks. They know my face well after repeatedly seeing me with my camera there (since 2023).

During one of my October visits to Highbanks, these two male sparrows perched close by on this branch jutting out of the manmade walkable nest exhibit. I’m very lucky with how this came out; the light was starting to fade, but this frame captured both sparrows with good exposure.

I’ve named the sparrow on the right “Huey”. He’s bold for a male house sparrow, and he’s endearingly grumpy in other shots like this one:

“What?”

2026 Hopes

In my 2024 photography highlight post, I wrote that my goal for 2025 was to be more flexible with camera settings and not shy away from atypical photography opportunities. As a beginner photographer, I used to be afraid of high ISO (the setting that determines how much light the scene needs). Higher ISO levels, such as 3200, will noticeably degrade the overall quality of my shots, causing them to lose detail and look soft.

There are times when a higher ISO is necessary to ensure you get a good shot. This is a truth in wildlife photography that, for beginners like myself, can be hard to accept. When you have to prioritize using a fast shutter speed (the setting that ensures either captures moving subjects or creates motion blur), the ISO is bound to rise.

With this lesson under my belt, my goal for 2026 is to build on my experiences and keep sharpening my skills. I’m proud of the shots I took throughout 2025, and I’m confident I’ll take even better pictures next year!

All Images by Connor Brennan

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