Portrait of a heron

GREAT BLUE HERON, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, APRIL 23, 2017

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 300mm
1/500 sec. f8
ISO 400

The garden's Great Blues are rarely where you want them—they tend to feed way across the lagoon out of effective photo range—but this one obligingly stalked through reeds just ten yards from a path along the western edge of Evening Island.

Red-winged Blackbird

RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, APRIL 23, 2017

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 300mm
1/1000 sec. f8
ISO 400

It's mating season, and the red flashes on the wings of the bird are at their brightest. These blackbirds are common all over the Botanic Garden and the trick is catching them when they're at rest, which is not often.

Great Blue Heron

GREAT BLUE HERON, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, APRIL 23, 2017

Pentax K-3
Pentax 55-300 at 170mm
1/400 sec. f8
ISO 400

Finally broke a long drought of good wildlife photos with this shot of a Great Blue along one of the Garden's lagoons. Only the obvious man-made edge of the lagoon, visible just beneath the surface of the water, spoils the picture, but not too much.