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A flock of migrating geese landed just before sunset. They swam up close to the boardwalk where I was standing, preened for a while, had a bite to eat, and then flew off again after posing for some sunset photos.... A pair of mallards joined the party. Can't beat cooperative wildlife models like that...
Iowa Chicago and Eastern M-CCNA was passing Tower B17 in Bensenville on CP's Elgin Subdivision.
A matched trio of SD40-2s had the Iowa-bound manifest well in hand in those heady times before Canadian Pacific took it over and slowly drove it into the ground.
Not that we need any extra geese or starlings... Most of the huge flocks of starlings that decorated our telephone wires for miles on end seem to have departed for warmer climbs further south... smart birds.
Some cottonwood leaves in the creek... I like the way the colors reflect in the area of surface tension around the leaves...
For a while we had cicadas everywhere. My favorite species is the colorful giant grassland cicada, shown here perched in the tallgrass.
The tallest of the tallgrass species here, the big bluestem was especially tall this year, well over my head in some places....
Some info: kswildflower.org/grass_details.php?grassID=6
Once or twice a year at my house, late at night I hear what sounds like a coyote howling, and once at the park somebody told me they saw one there. I was out looking for ducks and spotted this coyote near some cedar trees. It trotted off into the cover and I lost sight of it. I guessed the direction it would go and went parallel to that on the park trail. Happily the coyote came out of the trees not far from where I was and I managed to get off a few shots, including this one when it stopped to look at me. Since it was in the tall grass, I had to try to focus not on the coyote, but on the grass that was in the same focal plane as the coyote. Of all the shots I got, this one was in the best focus. Anyway, a new species for my prairie wildlife species collection.
Some info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote
The wing of a newly emerged variegated meadowhawk dragonfly. Best in large on black to see the detail.
Not my favorite time of year when everything turns winter brown, but once in a while the wildlife cooperates....
It wasn't a particularly colorful autumn here, but the sumac leaves always turn a vivid color even if other leaves don't.
Looks like we will make it a week without the temperature ever getting above freezing.... my hibernation continues...
Iowa Chicago and Eastern train M-CCNA was roaring westward on CP's Elgin Subdivision back in 2004. The ICE age was still in full effect at the time, and solid sets of blue and yellow SD40-2s were an everyday sight in Chicagoland.
The original IHB alignment was still in place at the time and a factory in the background was still open and providing jobs for the area economy. It's now an open field and the Franklin Park police station.
And don't hold your breath for a quartet of matched ICE SD40-2s to pass under that signal bridge any time soon.
I went for a photowalk on a sunny afternoon, though there were storms around. It started raining even though there were no clouds above me, so I stood under a tree and took the opportunity to shoot some raindrops falling into the creek.... the rain didn't last long....
I saw this school of baby bullhead catfish from a foot bridge over the pond, something I hadn't seen before. Unfortunately I don't know how to make them look any better with our turbid water here. In any case, a new one for my prairie wildlife species collection. Thanks to Jessica for ID help.
Iowa Chicago and Eastern train M-CCNA (Belt Chicago Clearing Yard to Nahant Yard) was roaring through Galewood on its trek westward across Illinois. Just minutes into its journey, a trio of ICE SD40-2s had the freight well in hand.
It's good to have our seasonal thunderstorms back. These clouds were more energetic than those in the previous image.
While I was shooting this sunset there was a guy out fishing with his son nearby. He told me this was the most peaceful place he had ever been. He was from California.
Don't know what made these pond ripples but I really liked the pattern.... especially how the colors reverse from the top to bottom. The details are especially nice in the large size...
It was a very windy Kansas spring day so I went into a wooded area to look for something to shoot. I was attracted to the pattern of the leaves on this species and then noticed there was another plant in bloom nearby. It's not easy to spot flowers less than 1/12 of an inch across...
Got back from a short road trip to where it was spring and was greeted with an ice storm when I got home....
Hitchcock day at the park... These birds were part of a huge flock of starlings.
It is hard to imagine now, but European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) were purposefully introduced from Europe into this country. After two failed attempts, about 60 European starlings were released into New York’s Central Park in 1890 by a small group of people with a passion to introduce all of the animals mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare. The offspring of the original 60 starlings have spread across the continental United States, northward to southern Canada and Alaska, and southward into Central America. There are now an estimated 150 million starlings in the United States.
Iowa, Chicago & Eastern westbound freight M-CCNA slowly rolls toward Davis Junction, IL as it gives the LDS2 time to get in the clear at the east end of the siding. The four locomotives seen here, all EMD SD40-2s, are part of the IC&E/DM&E's 100-unit fleet of engines that power their road trains.
A trio of Iowa Chicago and Eastern SD40-2s had the M-CCNA well in hand as they rolled along the Chicago Subdivision in 2007.
The ICE had a year left before CP took it back.
This time of year I see lots of migrating cattle egrets heading south. At night they they roost in flocks of many hundreds in the trees at a townhouse complex across the street from the city park where I shoot. It's pretty amazing to see flocks of large birds like this in the city.... See comment below for info on cattle egrets from wikipedia.
This time of year seems to have the best light here with very clear air and the sun hanging low in the sky for a couple hours before sunset....
This tree had excellent color but I was struggling to find a composition that worked. Finally I got the idea to stand next to the trunk and look out over the meadow toward the distant clouds.... Part of the challenge of photographing day after day in the same city park for six years is to find new ways to look at things.
Out playing with my new toy.... Hopefully there will be more nice days to go out shooting coming up...
Sometimes when you hit autocontrast in Photoshop, it gives surreal results! I adjusted the contrast to make the sky go almost black and emphasize the rays of light.
Another day with a magical long-lasting sunset where I took a still shot inbetween shooting video clips to make time lapse movies.