Tasked with hunting aquatic prey yet lacking water-repellent feathers, cormorants spend a significant amount of time drying off after feeding. Adults are brown-black while immature…
Cormorants
Chimney Swifts
As dusk sets in, thousands of swifts, Chaetura pelagica, make their way into an uncapped, unlined chimney in Geneva, IL.
Owl Rescue
The recent Friday the 13th started off unlucky for this great horned owl, but got better when rescuers arrived. The owl’s third eyelid is visible…
Turtle Rescue
Although large, even snapping turtles like this one—which is the size and color of a large watermelon—can fall victim to fishing line.
Mourning Cloak
The mourning cloak butterfly’s common name refers to its dark coloration, but provides few clues to its unique survival strategy.
Young Raptors
With daylight fading, a young red-tailed hawk watches and waits for a meal that never came.
Katydids
Female common true katydids, like the one pictured here, are all green with a curved ovipositor or egg-laying organ, at the hind end; males are…
Sound of Silence
The landscape at this Delnor Woods pond was lush, but the soundscape was hushed. Nary a chirp could be heard in the early morning air.
Ghost Pipes
Although they lack chlorophyll, ghost pipes are bona-fide plants. Their roots draw nourishment from nearby fungi in the soil and their nodding flowers are pollinated…
Dragon Wheels
Rather than round, the wheel formation of these mating damselflies is nearly heart shaped.