On the Fox River

The other day after my dentist appointment I decided to take a walk along part of the Fox River.
It was so nice and peaceful. I could sit and watch the water travel by.  One place in the river was this Great Heron and several mallard ducks.  The mallards were this years, as they were just beginning to distinguish between males and females.

The dragonflies seem to be quite plentiful. I love it when one lights long enough for me to take a picture.

The Cabbage White butterflies seem to be plentiful as well.

The grasshopper looks so fierce up close.

This mallard is a male.  You can see that his head is beginning to turn dark green.

I think I have finally determined that this is a Downy Woodpecker.
I have had such a time between the Downy and the Hairy.  I am taking more time to read up on the differences between similar birds.  I never was able to get a totally clear shot, as there were a lot of tree branches between him and me.( I really need a longer distance lens!)  These old eyes just don't always see very well.

While I was standing checking out the Downy Woodpecker, I heard another noise.  Look what I came upon. This time it was a Red-Bellied Woodpecker.  He was so pretty

I was able to get a better shot of his back.  It looks like a Zebra.  

This was a different Heron on the river.  I must have seen at least 6 Herons that day.  He was stalking small fish. 

Having a bit of trouble identifying this dragonfly.  There was red on his wings not on the body.

Not sure what this bird is either.  He was very nice for me. I almost think it is a fledgling.

Then turned around, like, "are you done yet?"

Another dragonfly.  Maybe I better find a book, or some sort of reference so I can start to identify them. Some of these are beautiful.  

This is the same Heron in the above picture.  There was another one that had just came out of the tall grasses. I thought it was neat that I could get two for the price of one!

This is the same dragonfly as above with the red on his wings.
I was there about an hour and saw all these wonderful creatures.
I am so enjoying spending time out doors and having the chance to photograph nature at it's finest.

Great day for birds and insects

After a weekend of sewing, decided it was time for a ride in the country.

It was a gorgeous day, blue skies and white fluffy clouds.  We took a ride out to Yorkville, and see what was happening on the Fox River.

We have had Cicada's in our area.  Such a small insect can sure make a lot of noise.  According to my bug guide there are over 75 North American species and can grow to 1.5 inches.  When several of them get buzzing it is very loud.

On the Fox River today we saw this Greater White-Fronted Goose.  We can visit this river any other time of the year and not see this bird.  In the late part of the summer, this goose shows up.  This is not the first time this has happened.  We have seen this goose before in other years.

Always with what I think is a Cackling Goose.  This goose is a bit smaller then the Canadian Goose.

Love this picture.  The White-fronted Goose is at the top of the damn and the Cackling Goose is on the second step of the damn. The white goose was fishing, the other looks like he was just chilling! Can you see how the wing feathers are sticking out on the Cackling Goose.
This part of the river has been very dangerous, in past years.  People think they can boat over it, and must forget about the undertow.  It has been reworked and now has a bypass that you can tube, or kayak on.  Today, a lot of people were on the river.  A lot of men were fishing below the falls,  The river is shallow and you can walk out there to fish.  One family walked across the river to have a picnic on the other bank.  It was fun watching all the folks today.

Caught this grasshopper taking a rest and feeding on this flower.

White cabbage butterflies were all around.  There were 3 to 5 at a time on this plant.

We could see turkey vultures were circling.  I thought there might be a nest around and kept watching this tree on the other side of the river.  If you look close there are two sitting in the tree. (Now I need a longer distance lens.)

On the way back home we came across this hawk.  Do not have any idea of what kind.  Told Ron to slowly move toward it.  He flew up and over to the next pole.

He did that 2 times, but still could not get a closer picture of him. Maybe next time!

Forgot, I saw small dragonfly over by the river too.

It was such a beautiful afternoon.  You can tell that fall is on its way.  Not ready for summer to end.