Surf's Up on Peoria Lake

The wind was strong, 30 miles per hour, driving white caps across the lake to break on the shore off of the point by Spindler Marina.

 

 

 

 

Peoria Skyline from the point at Spindler Marina on a very windy day.

 

 

 

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker

A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker stopped by the Pine tree outside my office window.

 

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.