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

Osprey stretches out its beautiful talons to land on the branch of a dead tree. She perched on this branch for quite a while and called out from time-to-time to encourage her two remaining chicks to fledge. Swipe right to see a closer/cropped view of the landing.

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 . . .

Okay, so black terns may not be the most colorful of birds, but they are striking in their own way; this particular black tern is a molting adult (black and white pattern). They are quite agile as they quickly veer in different directions . . .