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 . . .

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 . . . "

What's as cute as a bug's ear? How about hummingbird eyelashes!

This Great Blue Heron from a couple of days ago is probably wishing that it had continued flying south instead of stickin' a landing on the log. We'll be getting up to 8 inches of snow around here today, and with upcoming temps dipping below zero, hoping it will find warmer waters soon.