Boardwalk at Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge.
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Bridge over the Spoon River.
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Shadows over the Spoon River.
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Large, woody polypore.
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Tree blossoms against a bright blue sky.
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Bird Houses.
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Tree Blossoms.
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Bird House at Emiquon.
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Coopers Hawk at Forest Park Nature Preserve. Scott and I spotted three hawks flying through the woods on our way out of the park today. I was able to get photographs of two of them. This is the second one that I was able to photograph.
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Coopers Hawk, same hawk as above, side view.
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Cooper's Hawk, ready to depart. This is the first of the three hawks we saw this morning.
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Coopers Hawk, same hawk as above, taking off.
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American Robin hunting on the trail.
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This deer takes a closer look at me.
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Deer at Forest Park Nature Preserve, Peoria, IL.
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Grackles were everywhere this afternoon, 40 or 50 of them worked their way from one yard to another.
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Two grackles sitting in a tree.
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Song Sparrow or American Tree Sparrow?

# 1 -- probably a Song Sparrow; photographed at the Northgate Entrance to Merwin Nature Preserve. He was hard to spot among the grass and leaves. The cloudy day didn't provide much light for contrast. His beak looks black to me, which confused me when I was trying to identify it, but it is probably just the way it looks to the camera in the poor lighting.



# 2 -- I'm confident now that this one is a Song Sparrow; photographed at Cooper's Park in East Peoria. This little bird was singing up a storm.



# 3 -- possibly an American Tree Sparrow; photographed at Cooper's Park in East Peoria. He was busy looking for food under the leaves in the woods near the beaver pond.