The Buck Stops Here . . . A White-tailed Buck checks out the does in the distance on a relatively mild late December afternoon. You can see that he's recently been rubbing trees with his antlers as there are wood remnants at the base of his antlers. He's quite the handsome buck, for sure.

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.

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 . . .

The goldfinches now have their winter colors, but it wasn't that long ago they were brilliant yellow, just beautiful. Here's a goldfinch lifting off from a sunflower. And a little while before he took off, a big ol' bumblebee winged its way up to look the goldfinch in the eye before heading off to the less crowded flower field.

"Do I know you . . . ?"

A Ruby hovers over to a Spotted touch-me-not (aka Jewelweed) in the morning light for a little fuel for flying.

Even though the Cabbage White Butterfly caterpillar is a major pest to brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, et cetera), the white butterfly can be a pretty sight as it flits about, and it can be quite the quick flitter . . .

When you're having a bad hair day and you still bag your prey . . . all is right with the world!

Symmetry in Motion . . .

The late evening sun bathes a Bumblebee in rim light as it buzzes to its next destination among the flowers.