A Great Egret strikes a pose before lunging for a snack on a warm evening a couple of weeks ago before the cold moved in. The Great Egret is a symbol of the National Audobon Society which was founded to protect birds from being killed for their feathers . . .

How about having an endangered (in Illinois) yellow-headed blackbird staring right at you? Okay, that will do. Hello Yellow!

Look who's put on a little weight (okay, perhaps more than a little weight) in preparation for the big trip south. Captured this ruby-throated yesterday, and truly appreciate each day we get with them before they migrate. Hummingbirds will gain 25% to 40% of their body weight before they migrate; if larger birds gained that much weight, they wouldn't be able to take off!

This Cedar Waxwing had been posing nicely, and after a few frames it turned its head as if to say, "Here you go, this is my best side and it really shows off my crest!"

Couldn't figure out how so many of the beautiful flowers had a full bloom of petals one day, and then the next day all of the petals would be gone with just the stem and the core of the flower left. Then one day an American Goldfinch . . .

The Yellow-headed Blackbird is on the endangered list in Illinois, so it was quite a treat to observe and capture this beauty (male) in the reeds and cattails of Goose Lake in northern Illinois this past June . . .