It's a Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) on its way from Point A to Point B at a local State Park.
HWW
Tags: Common Grackle HWW M.Zuiko 100-400mm f/5-6.3 + MC-14 McHenry County McHenry Dam State Park Moraine Hills State Park Quiscalus quiscula Wing Wednesday bird birds in flight branch nature reflections water wildlife
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The tiny Brown Creeper makes its living by gleaning insects from the trunks of trees, and as noted on the American Bird Conservancy Web site, these birds have a distinctive feeding style: "Starting at the bottom of a tree, it creeps up; when it reaches the top of the tree, it flutters down to the base of the next and begins circling up again. It never descends trees head-first like a nuthatch—this bird is always moving upward!"
Tags: Brown Creeper Certhia americana M.Zuiko 100-400mm f/5-6.3 + MC-14 McHenry County McHenry Dam State Park Moraine Hills State Park bird bokeh nature square tree tree trunk wildlife
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This week’s Macro Mondays theme is “I Made This,” which can include something that I “wrote.” As a former longtime journalist, I’ve got plenty of examples of that.
One career highlight came in 1972, when I was part of a five-person investigative team at the weekly Sun Newspapers of Omaha that produced a special report on the financial condition of Father Flanagan’s Boys Home—an Omaha institution better known as Boys Town. The report won seven national awards for journalistic excellence, including a 1973 Pulitzer Prize.
Briefly, as the Pulitzer Prize Board put it, the award was "For uncovering the large financial resources of Boys Town, Nebraska, leading to reforms in this charitable organization's solicitation and use of funds contributed by the public."
I’ll leave it at that, but if anyone happens to be interested, the following link provides an extensive description by a third-party reporter of "the story behind the story." bit.ly/3Ur0hOP
The image above is original newsprint—now yellowed by time—of one of the bylined stories that I wrote in association with the Sun’s Boys Town report.
HMM
Tags: Boys Town Father Flanagn's Boys Home HMM I Made This Macro Macro Mondays OM 12-40mm f2.8 Sun Newspapers of Omaha aged journalism newspapers reporting square writing wrote yellowed
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Some faux sketch work for this week's Sliders Sunday
HSS
Tags: Glacial Park Conservation Area HSS Powers-Walker House Sliders Sunday bare trees bushes grasses historic house lake painterly reverse vignette roads sketch trees vintage water
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This Great Egret, my first sighting of the season, was hanging out high in this tree for more than two hours on a recent day. It moved about and turned its head slightly from time to time, but never moved from this spot while I was in the area.
This Egret is in breeding plumage, when the lore (or area behind the bill) turns green, and the bird develops long showy plumes, known as aigrettes, on its back side. The aigrettes are somewhat visible here.
Tags: Ardea alba Great Egret Illinois M.Zuiko 100-400mm f/5-6.3 + MC-14 McHenry County McHenry Dam State Park aigrettes bird birds branches breeding plumage buds elegant nature tree trunk wildlife Sunrays+5 coth5
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