Merry Christmas everyone! Our pack of golden retrievers provides daily smiles, joy and love, and however you are able, we wish for you the same.

Shorties are so intense when they lock in . . .

A Great Egret tosses a sushi snack around before enjoying the spoils of its fishing adventure.

Anyone know how long a hummingbird's tongue is? Well, it's usually as long as its beak, which can be from anywhere as short as .315 inches to as long as 4 inches; female hummingbirds have longer beaks than males, and ruby-throated female beaks are usually between .6 and .8 of an inch . . .

So my wife says, "How come you haven't posted this yet?" I say, "Well, you know, it's not that Instagrammy" She says, "But she's so cute . . "

The Ruby-throated Hummingcopter . . . the motion shows the mechanics of hummingbird wings in flight. Still have a backlog of hummingbirds from late summer, so I'll probably be posting these through the end of the year. A little color this time of year is a good thing . . .

Face to face with a Northern Harrier after a dive into the Illinois prairie to grab a vole before the Short-eared Owls snag them all.

"Listen up ladies, today is NOT the day to lose focus. Stay close together, be vigilant, and we'll get through this together!" Have a great Thanksgiving!

With the Sandhill Cranes in full migration mode, how about some Sandhill Cranes against the sun? These are Sandhill Cranes captured in southern Wisconsin as they were gathering and flying on their journey this fall, and the hazy, dusty, smoky sunset is from the same location taken in the summer . . .

A couple of captures from last winter . . . If we ever get a break from the grey and gloomy (and now snowy) skies, will head out to some shorty hangouts to see if they've made it back yet. Probably having a field day with the voles . . .