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]]>It was a lovely day in Chicago despite the sprinkles. It's a pleasure to be with people you like as well as love. Laura and Tariq were good birding guides as well, leading us to one of the nearby heron and night-heron hangouts along River Park (GPS coordinates: 41.97506832003049, -87.70262493012635)
Highlights include a preening and fishing Black-crowned Night Heron
and a Green Heron that was strolling, fishing, stretching, and generally making themselves a good photo subject.
Grown daughter. Grown daughter and husband. Grown daughter and husband that are enjoyable to be with... = Fantastic!
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Our present view of God is sort of like this image that has been inverted. What is to come is so much clearer than what we know now, and I imagine that the clarity will be somewhat disorienting.
We can try to see clearer now by learning of God from what is currently revealed.
Until then, some things will leave us scratching our heads.
But it will be nice when we can see clearly and reflect back.
The fisherman near the shore of Thompson Lake was probably wondering why I was putting a HUGE cooler in the F10. I'd eventually like to be comfortable enough to take the good camera and lens out with me, so today was a dry run with the cooler (all 27x18x18" of it) with the backup camera in a dry bag inside. The deck lashing for the cooler was not lacking, with four tie down straps running to mount points on the kayak equipment tracks. Several trips between the car and kayak in the water later, including a return from about 100 yards out after a false start without a water bottle, and I was underway, exploring the northwest side of Thompson Lake at Emiquon preserve. This is a marshy area hard to access by foot.
Sudden thump, thump, thumps, on the bottom of the boat gave me a start a few times. No Loch Ness monster or alligator were making the quick escape in a cloud of muddy water. Most of the fish whose tails were thrashing against the bottom of the hull were probably "Illinois River salmon" (aka, spawning carp), but some could have been gars.
Turtles, most of them slid off of logs as I approach about fifty feet away. For those that stayed, I stopped, and deployed the camera from the cooler. The wind was light and the yak moved quickly in the breeze making pictures sort of hit or miss. Tying off to a snag then letting out paracord until the right distance away did the trick. Sunning the rear feet seemed to be a popular Painted Turtle pastime.
A pair of Eastern Kingbirds were actively defending their nest from a persistent Common Grackle.
A beaver dam and lodge greeted me at the northernmost end of the bay.
On the way home, I stopped again for a Painted Turtle. This time it was go get it off of the road. I was rewarded with turtle pee on my leg. I stop for turtles, but the turtles decided to go. Such is life, I'll stop anyway.
Lessons learned:
- The packing/preparation checklist was helpful.
- Tie a paracord to the rear handle to secure the transport trolley
- The transport trolley is not that useful for going over obstacles more than a couple of inches tall.
- Tying the bow or stern line to a snag and letting it out to position for photo then cleating down worked well.
- I should leave the roof crossbars on all summer.
- Turning around to come back for the water was a good idea.
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Why create a nature photography site when the world is full of very good images? Good question. If the photos I post are just "nice" and don't stir your soul, please enjoy a browsing experience, but if an image lifts your spirits on a dreary day, then please contact me at [email protected] if you want to know how I'm using these images to support nature appreciation and environmental conservation.
Is "WildZ" a typo, or does it mean something? If you know me, there is a good reason to ask if this is a typo. In this case, however, it does mean something. Most of the images on this site will be a natural scene or an animal. If the picture is taken on a feeder (i.e, I cropped the feeder out), I'll try to note that in the image description. And the “Z”? That’s a nickname.
WildZ, I'm kicking you out of the nest though you're still immature. Here's to seeing you fully fledged.
