A Great Egret found a bountiful source of tadpoles and leisurely worked its way along the water's edge plucking and tossing . . .

While observing sandhill cranes forage along the marsh, a Red-winged Blackbird took flight from a nearby reed. I don't know, that patch on the wings seems more orange than red to me, what do you think? I guess Red-winged has a better ring to it than Orange-winged . . .

Check out the bill on this Common Loon as the water from a recent dip has made it reflective, looking like liquid metal. Wait a minute, perhaps its working on trying out for the next Terminator movie? Terminator: Loon . . .

Did you hear the news? . . . (got this juvenile male's attention!) The 2022 hummingbird migration is underway (swipe to see map), and it won't be long before they're back in this area (northern Illinois) from their nice vacation in South America . . .

"Hey Peter, did we make a wrong turn or something? What's the deal with all of this river ice?" "Hmmm, not sure Paul, but sure wish we'd stayed down south a little longer. Whose bright idea was this?" "Not sure Peter, I just followed you . . . "