I forgot to submit this one last year. I made it the header on my webpage to remind myself to do so this year.
I photographed these Phainopeplas busy catching insects from their perch atop an oak tree. When I tiled together the photo of another oak tree with the sun coming through it, it seemed like a perfect match. I added the dragonfly because I liked the title, “Phainopepla and the Dragon.”
2016 Audubon entry #8
Phainopepla and the Dragon
This is a “puddle shot” composition from 2011—it is still one of my favorites. For me, it brings to mind an old English tapestry.
Ok, so this is one photo I did not submit to the contest. Why?
Was it because I didn’t think it had as good a chance as the others? No.
In fact, I thought it might have a better chance because the Phainopepla is a bird less often photographed.
This image was not among those I submitted because……….I forgot. 
Yes, I am a birdbrain.
I have yet to employ a filing system—either on my computer or in my head—that adequately compensates for that. Oh, well.
It just dawned on me yesterday, as I was driving around town, that I had left it out of the mix.