January: Canada Jay, White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire

How could I not include a gray jay (formally known as the Canada Jay) in this year’s calendar? Two years ago I included this image in my calendar. It ended up placing in the Top 100 of the 2022 Audubon Photography Awards! The photo of the northern flicker (woodpecker) peeking out of its nesting hole in the 2021 calendar also placed in the Top 100 this year. Two winners from one calendar! To celebrate I decided on another winter gray jay photo I captured during the same trip as the winner.
Here is a portion of what I wrote for the Audubon Society about my experience that day:
“In winter, the world above 4,000 feet in the White Mountains is brutally cold but enchanting. Impressively, Canada Jays will mate, nest, and raise chicks up here between February and early April, when temperatures are still below zero degrees Fahrenheit, and the forest is buried in snow and encased in rime ice. I made the 6-mile roundtrip hike with 2,200 feet of vertical gain on a 10-degree January morning to photograph this bird. The biggest challenge was standing still in the biting wind, and I routinely stuffed my hands under my clothes to regain feeling in them.”