Waterfowl on the Skokie Lagoon in Spring

After seeing a wood duck fly over me while biking by the Skokie Lagoon,

 I decided to go on an expedition to photograph it. I hiked along the muddy

 banks of the Winnetka half of the Lagoon for about two hours, and I did

find a family of wood ducks but they hid in the shade across the water, which

 was too far and dark for my 300mm telephoto to capture. Despite this, I also

 happened upon some other springtime waterfowl.

I noticed waterfowls slowly floating down the Lagoon, so I quickly hid 

behind the nearest tree and patiently waited for them to pass by. It was sunny 

and the water reflected the bright green leaves of the trees, which gave a nice 

background to the waterfowls. After doing some research online and consulting

 some birding forums, I discovered that the top birds are male and female

 blue-winged teals and the bottom bird is a pie-billed grebe. The teal are somewhat

 common, but this is my first time seeing or even hearing about a pie-billed grebe. 

Both look really interesting.

Winnetka

Taken in April 2012

Killdeer at the Skokie Lagoons

Yesterday, just as I was embarking on a hike through the Skokie

 Lagoons to see what sort of spring birds I hadn't discovered yet,

 I noticed a bird meandering around the shore which had a similar 

complexion and build to a sandpiper. As I continued down from the

 Tower Road canoe launch to the Willow Road dam, I encountered 

it several other times (could've even been the same bird). I'd seen 

it before while biking in Cook County so I knew it wasn't too obscure to see 

one around here but it was still pretty unique.

After doing some research online I found out that its called a 'killdeer'.

Their eyes make them look sort of comical. As opposed to other birds, 

which usually fly away if they were bothered by me, the killdeer would just

 walk a few feet away; so I was able to get more up-close/natural shots 

without having to hide behind a tree.

Winnetka

Taken in April 2012

Broad-winged Hawk Searching for Lunch

I went to the Skokie Lagoons today to do some bird photography, 

which is something that I haven't done for nearly a month (mainly

 because of weather and schoolwork). I was wandering along the 

banks of the Lagoon with a telephoto lens in a lightly wooded area 

when I noticed a large hawk perched on a broken tree about ten yards away. 

The hawk was obviously distracted by something on the ground, and after 

a few minutes it dived into the grass with a thump and began furiously pecking 

at something.

Usually I've only been able to photograph hawks at a distance, so this 

was a rare and somewhat terrifying opportunity. After the hawk noticed 

me, it flew to a few different trees to keep a wary eye on me. One trick I 

used that works with pretty much all birds to keep them from flying away

 is taking photos from behind a tree or shrub. After a while it looked as 

thought the hawk was getting irritated by me so I quickly walked away.

Winnetka

Taken in April 2012

Birds by the Skokie Lagoon Bike Trail

It seems like red-winged blackbirds and robins are the only sort of

 birds that are around during spring. Usually robins can be found

 throughout the suburbs and red-winged blackbirds can be found 

in any wooded area. I've also seen a few blackbirds but they're 

not very photogenic.  

I took these about a month ago at sunset while biking along the trail 

at the Skokie Lagoon. With the red-winged blackbird you can see

 how the sun gave the bird a slightly orange tint, and the bottom photo

 was taken more at dusk so the colors are duller. 

Winnetka

Taken in March 2012

Lake Forest Metra Station

Last weekend I drove to Lake Forest and took pictures of the train

 station there as a photo assignment for the school newspaper. 

As a town, Lake Forest has the quaint affluence of the rest of the 

North Shore but is located in a more densely wooded area and the 

architecture is more clean cut and olde-timey. Their train station

 is a bit nicer than the other ones.

To get a lower angle, I crouched next to the tracks and lowered my

 camera til it was lower than the pavement. A potentially dangerous

 thing to do, so I had to be very cautious. 

Lake Forest

Taken in April 2012

Prairie Field at Fort Sheridan

My first lengthy bike ride of the year (last time was in December,

 when I embarked to a forest preserve in Lake Bluff) occurred last 

weekend as I went to Fort Sheridan at sunset to photograph any 

unique spring botanical developments. Vast fields of prairie grass 

spotted with dandelions had sprouted up.

I was using my 50mm lens so the focal length was a bit narrow for

 landscapes, but the result ended up having a more intimate/isolated 

effect than the broad scope of a wider focal length. The top photo was 

taken at f/2.0 so that the only thing in focus would be the dandelions, 

which sort of gives the scene a sentimental aesthetic, and the bottom 

photo was taken near dusk, which gave the scene a warm glow.

Fort Sheridan

Taken in April 2012

Baha'i Temple

Yesterday I biked to Gilson Park in Wilmette to photograph 

the amphitheater there for an extra-credit assignment for school 

where we have to find several New Deal projects around the 

Winnetka/Wilmette area, and while I was in Wilmette on Sheridan

 Road I decided to bike over to the Baha'i Temple and take

 some abstract photos.

Like most buildings the Baha'i Temple is too detailed to include

 all in one frame, so I tried to get a few abstracts of the 

meticulous design and the Temple's reflection in a 

small colorfully tiled pond. 

Wilmette

Taken in April 2012

Dandelion

Among the recently blooming spring flowers are dandelions. I think

 they're actually more of a weed than a flower, which might explain why

 they don't grow in collected patches. 

Composition-wise I was trying to get the brightness of the yellow

 dandelion reflecting the sun to contrast the shadowed ground, and

 to utilize the macro lens' warped perception of the flower's shape

 to create more of an abstract design than a simple picture of a flower.

 The top one sort of reminds me of a flag, and the bottom one has great colors.

Winnetka

Taken in April 2012

Cherry Blossoms by the Skokie Lagoon

I just got back from a trip to Boston and since I had time after school

 today I biked around the Skokie Lagoon to see if there was anything

 blooming that hadn't been there before. Since it's been spring for a few 

weeks now there's green everywhere and-- instead of just blue bells-- 
wildflowers of all sorts have popped up along the bike trail. I spotted
 this cherry blossom (?) tree and thought that the red color looked unique.

I've started keeping a UV filter attached to my 18-55mm lens, and although 

the filter doesn't produce a distinct effect, it seems like the sky is usually 

somewhat bluer and other colors are usually more contrasted and saturated. 

Winnetka

Taken in April 2012

Yellow Flower at the Botanic Gardens

It was a sunny day and flowers had started blooming so two weeks
 ago I biked to the Botanic Gardens in Glencoe to see if there were 
any unique or colorful plants that I could take macro photos of. Other people
 got the same idea and it seemed as if half the people there
 were looking to get prime first-of-the-season spring botany photos 
as well. The crowd of half loner nature photographs and half families was 
sort of awkward, but it was a beautiful day and I didn't hear anybody complain.

These photos were taken with a super macro lens-- which is more of a

 lens extension than a lens-- and a few macro filters, which allow my camera 

to focus much closer to a subject than it originally could. I have other 

photos that work better as pieces of macro photography, but I really like 

the colors, the detail, and the shadows in these two (and the beetle, which

 I didn't even notice was there).

Glencoe

Taken in March 2012