male wood duck in a blue scene as it flies across the rock river in IL.

Male Woody from last week:

#woody #birds #nature

a young eagle flying overhead with wings spread wide against a blue sky

Juvenile Bald Eagle flyover this week, Rock River:

#birds #raptor #wildlife

small bird with yellow breast perched in a thorny patch

Flycatcher along the river this week:

#birds #nature

They're are really shy around here, too many hunters.

Cloudy day eagle, Rock River this week:

#birds #eagle #nature

White-tailed deer sitting along the river bank. She wasn't afraid of me going by at all:

#wildlife

Redwinged Blackbird calling out for a mate:

#birds

Rabbits kill all new tree growth along the rivers & as trees erode into the river or die off, they are replaced with this invasive tree from china that is taking over and causing disruption to the complex cycle of nature in this area.

People don't like gore pics, I know I don't. But nature isn't a bowl of cherries & rabbits aren't harmless. They can breed every 3 months. They eat the new trees & gird the bark, so trees fall in the rivers with no replacements without eagles and foxes keeping rabbits in check.

A small brownish bird with yellow belli just migrated into this area along the river

Flycatcher from yesterday, they just arrived and were all over:

#birds #nature #bird_photography

Its the eagle perched with a touch of blue sky in parts, the rest white; the eagle is on a large branch and branches with buds. Its a cool pic. The rabbit isn't obvious.

It was a really cloudy really slow day, I only got 4 photos and this was one:

#eagle #birds #nature #wildlife

Woody from this week: #birds

Eagle from this week. I know, #eagle photos are getting tiresome with so many being posted lately, but this one is eagle is special because she let me get close and put on a show for me, again. What matters is the size of the image, it didn't need much cropping so would make a nice print. #birds

Beautiful!

Friendly Eagle is still around putting on a show for me: #birds #nature #wildlife #bird_photography

Merganser is a large Duck with a reddish brown head, white grey and black back flying low over the river with a blue reflection by Dave Tackett

Common Merganser, Rock River yesterday: #birds #ducks #bird_photography

Nice photo!

Cowbirds have arrived! This is a male at my feeder area: #birds #bird_photography #nature

I had a nice drift this morning on the rock. It sure was nice out, warmed up, no wind. I saw eagles, still lots around, I got some duck photos and a coyote again. I drifted by him and he didn't hear me but then he smelled my boat (gas) and tore off. I barely spotted him, he was curled up in a ball, I just spotted a small patch of fur. The brush is still brown and golden like the coyote along the river:

I had a nice drift this morning on the rock. I saw eagles, I got some duck photos & a coyote again. I drifted by him & he didn't hear me, but then he smelled my boat (gas) and tore off. I barely spotted him, he was curled up in a ball, I just spotted a small patch of fur: #wildlife #nature #coyote

Cardinal came to visit: #birds #bird_photography #nature

Me too, I think they depend on me now and they are out of control! But I do keep feeding them so they wont starve.

Finally I am back running again. A windows update deleted my card reader driver. MS remotely did a restore which corrupted my Lightroom files. I had to block that update. I used copilot to help fix and wasted 5 hours. Then adobe help had the fix which took a few seconds.

They like the small yellow seed. I get them in the spring occasionally. With this new snow fall I have tons of birds at the feeders, (and squirrels).

Redwinged Blackbird showed up at my feeders: #birds #nature #bird_photography

Nice closeup!

Is that a nest?

Looks like my driveway with the basketball hoop and snow. I keep debating whether to take it down or not.

Dark eyed Junko at my window yesterday: #birds #nature #wildlife #bird_photography

I think you're a little bit warmer there. I know I have fished there on IL river when our rivers were froze up here just north of you (Rock & pool 14 on mississippi river). I don't know what they're eating but while working on boat ramp breaking ice I saw schools of small bass swim by shallow.