Ben and Joy

This pair of Least Sandpipers were hanging out in a farm field wetland in north eastern Illinois. The yellow-green legs are a key character...

We stopped by the Sugar Grove Nature Center to check out their bird feeders. One fun thing about the park is that the two members of the g...

Kirk and I visited Prairie Ridge State Natural Area in Newton, Illinois. It was a pretty early morning, since we wanted to be there at lea...

I was working in southern Illinois, and looking for a shady spot to eat my packed lunch, when we stumbled across a little park (lat/long 39....

This little Marsh Wren begged for its picture to be taken, striking different poses in a small wetland in Marion County, Illinois. Typicall...

These guys were blooming along the Kankakee River yesterday. It is the most common Agalinis species in Illinois, but I liked the flowers. ...

Tall Green Milkweed (Asclepias hirtella) was blooming in Fayette County, Illinois. I was not familiar with this milkweed, and was excited t...

Katie spotted this little guy while we were walking the edge of a bean field in Marion County, Illinois. He was one of the smallest box tur...

Platanthera peramoena (Purple Fringeless Orchid) was blooming in a wooded wetland in Fayette County, Illinois, near Vandalia. This orch...

I ran across this large guy in a shallow riffle on a larger tributary to the Kaskaskia River near Vandalia, Illinois. The third phot...

One of those flower that is hard to pass by without admiring, the Flowering Dogwoods were putting on a show in Michigan in April. Anothe...

I have gotten far enough behind on blogging that I am combining several different snakes over the last couple months into one post. Thi...

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were singing for us along a stream south of Moweaqua, Illinois. A Scarlet Tanager in a very dark canopy on t...