From the archives

Taken at the Butterfly Garden at the Peggy Noteabart Nature Museum last summer. It's one of the first photos I took with my then-new Nikon D80.

Koi and Ducks

The moat around the Colorado Belle was overrun with koi. The laziest and most well-trained koi I'd ever seen; all you needed to do was hold your empty hand over the rail and hundreds of fish would rush toward you, poking their faces above the water with open mouths, waiting to be fed. The number of coins on the bottom made me wonder how many of them had dimes and pennies in their bellies by mistake! The ducks fought for our attention too, as you can see.

3 from the Shedd

These guys have really big brains. They must -- why else would they need such big foreheads?



This lizard was VERY interested in what was going on outside the tank; he kept swimming back and forth, looking at all of us looking at him.



Most of the little kids were excited when they spotted a Nemo fish, but I got excited when I saw Dory!



"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."

Lizards in Love

Or if not love, then in serious "like". :)

Taken at the Shedd Aquarium this weekend on a visit with my niece and sister-in-law. It was a ton of fun!

Butterfly from two angles

No idea what kind of butterfly it is, but it was striking!



The detail and pattern of the wing astonished me (best seen in large).



He looks so fierce from this direction. :)

Also, my Beach From Above shot was selected as the Focus, People, Focus feature on the Chicagoist this Friday. I'm so flattered!

It's easier to hide when you match

The cicadas have arrived at my front door. Literally!

Oh, my, the 17-year cicadas are arriving! I thought I would have to go out to Morton Arboretum or one of my favorite state parks to get some good shots of them, but it turns out the little tree in front of my condo has been hiding them in its roots for years. My doormat is already littered with wings and eco-skeletons and molting cicadas! The tree and the bush in front of my neighbor's door is coated with them. I managed to get some good shots of the eco-skeletons (like this one), but I'm still shooting for a good image of a live cicada.

Now I feel all itchy.