An adult piping plover, seen at Montrose Beach this morning, shortly after the new chicks were banded. #Birds

Brewer's blackbird (male) #Birds

Brewer's blackbird (female) #Birds

One of the European goldfinches of northern Illinois, seen at Illinois Beach State Park #Birds

Little stinker: A Juvenile striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) forage and plays with its siblings along a country road near Elkton in rural southwestern #Oregon #photography #wildlifephotography

Baby bluebirds #Birds

It's the time of year for wild lilies in the woods

A bumblebee visiting a wild morning glory #Pollinators

Another cedar waxwing photo, just because they are so cool. If you look closely, you can see the little red waxy wing tips that inspired their name #Birds

Well-polished rocks and pebbles along the shoreline of Lake Michigan

Early summer wildflowers: prickly pear 🌵

Cedar waxwing on the hunt for summer fruit #Birds

Green heron red alert! #Birds

Wood ducklings #Birds

Snake in the grass #Reptiles

Mute swan cygnets enjoying the duckweed #Birds

Common gallinule #Birds

A pod of pelicans enjoying a particularly fine early summer day #Birds

Portrait of a spiny softshell turtle - quite a looker! #Reptiles

A snowy egret, with its trademark yellow feet #Birds

A yellow-billed cuckoo #Birds

A scruffy-looking baby grebe, about to receive a parental food delivery #Birds

Great crested flycatcher #Birds

A wood duck in his eclipse plumage #Birds

Eastern kingbird caught a bee for breakfast #Birds

A great blue heron at @mortonarboretum.bsky.social #Birds

A ruby-throated hummingbird, nectaring on salvia #Birds

Double-crested cormorant close-up #Birds

A somewhat bedraggled-looking rose-breasted grosbeak #Birds

Hosta 💮

A red-winged blackbird in hot pursuit of a red-tailed hawk #Birds

An immature male orchard oriole #Birds

Taking time to stop and smell the clover?

A wood duck making a splash #Birds

Northern flicker with a muddy beak from hunting for ants after a rainstorm #Birds

The fawn was getting a tongue bath from its mother 🦌

A blue-eyed fawn, a rare genetic variation 🦌

Red-headed woodpecker #Birds

Fawn

Brewer's blackbird keeping a close eye on me #Birds

American coot in the Dead River #Birds

A wild rose blooming in the dunes along the shore of Lake Michigan 🌹

A brown thrasher with a bit of sand on its beak, from its thrashing in the Waukegan Dunes. #Birds

Common buckeye 🦋

Great crested flycatcher. A fun fact about them is that they often weave shed snakeskin into their nests. #Birds

The adult on the left and the youngster were hissing and sticking out their tongues at each other #Birds

A honeybee collecting spiderwort pollen for her pollen basket #pollinators

A hairy woodpecker, investigating a tree cavity at Ryerson Conservation Area #Birds

Visual textures at Ryerson Conservation Area

a dragonfly that hovered in place long enough for me to take its picture