Snapping Turtle at Cooper Park

A large Common Snapping Turtle blended in so well with the mud in the stream running through the wetland at Cooper Park in Tazewell County, Illinois that I almost didn't see it. On our return trip he had disappeared without a trace, the pond scum hadn't moved at all, just a space empty of scum where he had been lying.

 

 

A Downy Woodpecker created quite a rucous as it hunted for bugs. His call got my attention before I saw him fly past into a tree near the board walk.