I'm pretty sure the Great Blue Heron isn't going to obey the sign. 🪶

No visit to the beach is complete without see a Ghost Crab scuttling into its hidey hole. #wildlife

It's Whistling-Duck Wednesday! Thanks to sharp-eyed hubby, we got pictures of 5 Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks in a flooded area by the bike path. Very unusual sighting for central Illinois. 🪶

TFW your talk at the Royal Tern convention is in two minutes and you just can't get those shrimp feelers to go all the way down. 🪶

When you're not quite ready for Monday morning. 🪶

Cheesecake and his new partner in crime, Larry, display their sleeping styles. Cheesecakes included light snoring.

Happy Friday! Are you as ready for the weekend as this stylish Great Blue Heron? 🪶

While I love seeing Sanderlings running on a sandy beach there's usually not enough color contrast. Some seaweed on the beach sets them off nicely. 🪶

Great Blue Heron at sunset, one of my favorite moments from our visit to the beach. 🪶

It's Tern Tuesday and here are two new-to-me terns - a Least Tern and a Black Tern. I had at least (no pun intended) heard of the Least Tern but I had no idea there was a Black Tern, a nightmare to photograph I might add. 🪶

Happy Monday! I hope your day goes better than this.

While I was photographing Indigo Buntings this Cedar Waxwing showed up to gorge on the mulberries.

Indigo Buntings are a sure thing on the nearby section of the bike path thanks to the mulberry trees. This one has tell-tale purple stains on its beak if you look closely. 🪶

Shrimp googly eyes and trailing feelers made for fun pictures. In the second pic the feelers are still dangling from beak of the Royal Tern in the foreground while a shrimp handoff (beakoff?) takes place in the background. 🪶

While we were at the beach shrimp was on the menu!

Back from the beach near Fort Morgan, AL. It's hard to beat the colors of a Ruddy Turnstone in breeding plumage. 🪶

It’s #Caturday and Cheesecake is awaiting our return from the beach. 🐈

Good morning from the Gulf of Mexico. I now have many pics of terns plus bonus pics of dolphin fins.

Since I couldn’t take Cheesecake 🐈 to the beach with us I made a Basque cheesecake.

Current views from where we’re staying near Fort Morgan.

Dinosaur tracks in the sand. Or possibly Great Blue Heron tracks. 🪶

We made it to the beach and I found Stonehenge. 🏖️☀️

We’re en route to the beach but Cheesecake is relaxed and in good hands while we’re gone. #Caturday

Here's a #ThrowbackThursday pic of Wood ducklings. Not much birding the last 2 weeks thanks to tendinitis in my foot and ankle, but almost back to normal. 🪶

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #LinedUp, 3 or more in a line so here are some European Bee-eaters. But there's always that one that didn't get the memo... 🪶

Good morning! Time to get after it. The judgy Gray-headed Chacalaca will be watching. 🪶

It’s #Caturday so I guess i won’t be getting up and disturbing Cheesecake anytime soon.

I think everyone could use a Green-breasted Mango today. 🪶

youtube.com/watch?v=auSo... Happy anniversary with this fantastic video . #CongratulationsSirDavid

At a rescue ranch in Costa Rica we had to chance to see endangered Great Green Macaws. I loved their spectacular colors and personality. 🪶

"How much longer are you going to be in there?" #WoodDuckWednesday

The Gray-cowled Wood-Rail wins "most impressive feet" of birds we saw in Costa Rica.

Happy Monday! Here are some beautiful tulips blooming at my favorite park to start the day.

It‘s #Caturday and Cheesecake is coming to help me paint.🐈

This is the fun time of year when I never know what I might find in our local retention pond. Yesterday it was a Green Heron giving me the glare of disapproval.

While I've been going through pictures from my last trip my yard birds have been reminding me lately that they are fabulous too. 🪶

Here is yet another beautiful woodpecker, Rufous-winged Woodpecker from Costa Rica for #WoodpeckerWednesday. I was confused about the name, but e-Bird said Don’t look for rufous in the wing, it’s very subtle!" 🪶

From the right angle these delightful Orange-chinned Parrots are truth in advertising. Although I do wonder if birds really have "chins" 🪶

When I saw this big Spiny-tailed Iguana in the gardens at our hotel in Costa Rica I thought "I'm definitely not in Illinois." 🦎

Cheesecake is enjoying some sun on #Caturday

We saw so many beautiful birds in Costa Rica including both the male (L) and female (R) Green Honeycreeper. I love it when the female is as stunning as the male. 🪶

Protective Canada Goose parents with their fuzzy yellow goslings. It's definitely spring here. 🪶

It's #WoodDuckWednesday again! One male Wood Duck appeared, which makes me wonder where the females are hiding. Also, bonus Great Blue Heron glare. 🪶

It's #Twosday and I discovered that ibis also come in green. Green Ibis along a river in Costa Rica.

I hope you are all striding into Monday as confidently and well-dressed as this chicken. 🪶

I’m a little late posting a #Caturday picture of Cheesecake, but he doesn’t look too mad. 🐈

Who doesn't want to see the underside of a coatimundi nose? #wildlife

This small Mottled Owl regularly hangs around a stand of bamboo in the gardens of the Bougainvilla Hotel where we stayed while we were in San Jose, Costa Rica. When someone first pointed it out to me it was barely visible between two bamboo and had a red Summer Tanager feather stuck to its beak.🪶

Since the Wood ducks were MIA yesterday it's Wildlife Wednesday and here is an adorable Central American Agouti we saw in Costa Rica. #wildlife

It's Toucanet Tuesday! We saw this fabulous little Northern Emerald Toucanet at the the place we stayed in Monteverde. The second photo shows how small they are compared to some very large leaves. 🪶