It’s time for one of my favorite annual columns, as I take a look at my top 10 birding/wildlife moments from the past year. It’s always fun to look back at a year’s worth of For the Birds columns and pick the moments that continue to resonate with me the most.

Here are my top 10 birding moments of 2025:

10. Early in 2025, when ice still dominated most ponds and rivers, I found a small unfrozen pond with a hooded merganser pair and a small flock of ring-necked ducks. The pond was small enough to afford good photo ops of the birds but large enough that they felt safe on the opposite shore.