First Hike 2022 provided the perfect opportunity to gain photographic stardom and recommit to fitness in the new year. The Park Authority has combined the nationwide initiative to get people outdoors on January 1 with a photo contest to encourage folks to grab a coat and camera and hit the county’s trails.

This year, awards were handed out in seven categories, including a new Pets category created in response to feedback from past contestants. Winners were selected by Park Authority judges, Executive Director Jai Cole and a popular online vote.

Here are the best photos of First Hike 2022:

The ruby-crowned kinglet usually lives in Alaska and Canada, but it can be found enjoying the warmer weather in Virginia during the winter. Photo credit: Barbara J. Saffir

Northern Virginians may flock to Florida in winter, but many bird species prefer spending their time right here.

Winter is a great time for nature photography since the barren trees make it easier to spot many of the birds and animals that inhabit local parks. For bird photographers, it’s also a great time to spot species that are migrating through the area or making their home here in winter.

It’s easy to see how the yellow-bellied sapsucker gets its name in this photo from Barbara J. Saffir.

P.J. Dunn is a part-time naturalist at Huntley Meadows Park with a particular interest in birds and dragonflies. He says some of the avian visitors you might see at this time of year are the killdeer, dark-eyed junco, white-throated sparrow, swamp sparrow, yellow-rumped warbler, hermit thrush, ruby-crowned kinglet, golden-crowned kinglet, winter wren and brown creeper. Be on the lookout for a yellow-bellied sapsucker, ring-billed gull, great and lesser black-backed gull or an American woodcock, too.

Killdeer. Photo credit: Barbara J. Saffir.     Golden-crowned kinglet. Photo credit: Jane Gamble.

Around the water, try to spot a hooded merganser, ring-necked duck, northern pintail, tundra swan, green-winged teal, lesser scaup, bufflehead, ruddy duck and American coot.

Hooded merganser, American coot and pintail at Huntley Meadows Park. Photo credit: Jane Gamble

Dunn explains that these migratory birds are essentially “on vacation” and not breeding, so they only need to worry about food and shelter. The two exceptions are the hooded merganser and the woodcock, which are gearing up for their breeding season by early to mid-February.

Of course, to get a good photo, it helps to know where to look. Dunn offers these hints:

• Killdeer prefer open areas like old fields or mudflats, where they can forage for their preferred foods.
• Look for the songbirds (sparrows, etc.) any place with brushy areas, field and wood edges, and forests. They like the cover these areas afford, and all county parks support some, if not most, of these species.
• The sapsucker is a woodpecker, so look any where there are trees.
• Of course, gulls and waterfowl are attracted by bodies of water. Some ducks are divers and prefer the large bodies of water that can be found at Burke Lake, Riverbend and Lake Accotink parks. Others, like the hooded merganser and green-winged teal, prefer the marshy habitats of Huntley Meadows and Lake Accotink.
• The American woodcock prefers moist, open areas adjacent to open forests. They are year-round residents but qualify as a "winter" bird solely because almost all sightings take place from February into March.

Hooded merganser takes flight at Huntley Meadows Park. Photo credit: Jane Gamble

Visit a local park before they fly away!

If you resolved to start taking better photos in the New Year, Park Authority photo classes are a great place to get started.

Whether you’re on a First Hike or any other hike in the parks, carrying a tripod around can be cumbersome. We asked Snapshots contributors Jane Gamble and Barbara J. Saffir for some of their tricks for getting a steady shot when your tripod is at home.

To begin, Saffir recommends checking your lens settings. If your lens has an option to turn the stabilizer on or off, make sure it is turned on when you’re hand-holding your camera.

Body position is important, too.

Gamble notes, “My camera and lens are pretty heavy - weighing about 6 1/2 pounds. I like to move around so I strictly hand-hold. I have found that keeping both my feet firmly planted with my weight evenly distributed really helps to stabilize the camera. If I put one foot higher or lower, I’m basically a monopod and lose my equilibrium.” She has found that the best photos are often at ground level with the subject. When that’s the case, “I just do a full squat which is very stable, with my elbows resting on my knees.” She does admit that getting up again can be a challenge and the position makes her look a bit like a “human toadstool.”

Saffir sometimes uses body parts as a makeshift tripod, too. “Using my point-and-shoot camera, I often prop it on the tip of my foot when I’m shooting macros of bugs or flowers. That also keeps it off the ground, so it doesn’t get wet or get destructive dirt/sandy embedded in it. When I hand-feed hummingbirds, I sometimes prop it on my nose to shoot still photos or videos.”

In the photo below, Saffir uses her elbows as a tripod for her heavy 100-600 mm lens as she rests them on a boardwalk railing. Depending on the angle you need on your photo, placing your camera directly on a railing like this or against a vertical structure, such as a tree, can also work in lieu of a tripod.