Northern Flicker Courtship

Northern Flickers were everywhere on Tuesday morning, more than a dozen. Four of them were courting in the same tree and allowed me to take several photographs before moving on.

Northern Flicker attracting attention of the female in the woods off to the side of a little park at the end of Lorentz Ave in Peoria, in a bit of undeveloped land along the Illinois River. Scott and I stopped by to see what we might find and happened upon a number of flickers.

Great Egret at the edge of the marsh across the river from Peoria.

Great Egret at the edge of the marsh at Cooper Park.

Mallard Duck fleeing. Hamm's Landing on Friday, April 14.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow at Hamm's Marina in Chillicothe last Friday.

Bullfrogs hiding in the beaver pond at Cooper Park on Tuesday morning. They blend in so well, I could only see them through my 400mm lens.

Common Snapping Turtle on a log in the beaver pond at Cooper Park.

Tree swallows. Cooper Park on Tuesday morning.

Tree Swallow doing a back flip.

Killdeer wings raised. There were a couple of Killdeer at Spindler Marina on Tuesday morning. One of them was busy trying to distract us. It worked pretty well.

Killdeer in flight.

Killdeer taking a short hop to the next rock.

Kildeer on the riff raff.