Two sandhill cranes pause for a moment from foraging to enjoy a beautiful sunset.

Spotted touch-me-nots, aka orange jewelweed (impatiens capensis), are a native wildflower of Illinois and were in bloom a couple of weeks ago at Moraine Hills State Park. They are popular with pollinators, and I observed this first hand . . .

How apropos that we should be visited by a black swan in 2020. Black swans are native to Australia, and it's anyone's guess as to how this one wound up in a forest preserve lake here in northern Illinois, but there it was with a family of mute swans . . .

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

This Hummingbird Clearwing moth takes its turn at hovering and poking around the flowers. These moths are excellent pollinators, and need a good amount of energy to keep their wings beating . . .

A bumblebee with a face full of pollen buzzes among the flowers. Thank God for our pollinators!

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 female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail may have a couple of battle scars, but she is still a beauty and flits through the flowers with grace and ease.

Love it when our little feathered friends (ruby-throated hummingbirds) hover above the flowers. Sure there are many of us that are a lover of the hover!