CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool
Lincoln Park
Chicago, IL
July 2020

The American bullfrog is native to southern and eastern parts of the United States and Canada. Bullfrogs are sexually dimorphic, with males being smaller than females and having yellow throats.

American bullfrog by Paul Sager, on Flickr


Mantises were considered to have supernatural powers by early civilizations, including Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, and Assyria. Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They have triangular heads with bulging eyes supported on flexible necks.

Praying mantis


All images shared in this post feature the EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM, with the EF 2x III, mounted to an EOS 5DIII, captured in RAW and processed in Lightroom 6 and Topaz DeNoise 6.

Eastern pondhawk


The twelve-spotted skimmer is a common North American skimmer dragonfly, found in southern Canada and in all 48 of the contiguous U.S. states.

Twelve-spotted skimmer


The blue dasher hunts by keeping still and waiting for suitable prey to come within range. When it does, they dart from their position to catch it.

Blue Dasher


These images are sized to fill your wide-screen display. Try using <F11> to maximize your browser window for the full effect. If the images overshoot your display, such as a laptop, just click on the image or the URL link and they'll resize to your screen from the host Flickr site. You can click a bit further into the image details on the Flickr page, if desired. EXIF data is available from the host Flickr pages as well. On the Flickr site, use your <L>key for Large and the <F11> for the full-screen.

bleirer

Amazing sharpness and clarity.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Thanks fo sharing your great images of beauty in nature.

davidb1879

CHG Canon: These images confirm your expertise. They are splendid. Davidb1879.

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Splendid photographs as usual Paul. Thanks for posting.

Dennis

photophile Loc: Lakewood, Ohio, USA

I see blue dashers in our area.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Waterfall9

Technical perfection. Thanks for sharing. Kind of raises the bar for most of us.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Really nice, Paul.

Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida

So nice Paul.......nice work sir. I always love little ponds with frogs and dragon flies and an occasional turtles as well. The Liliy pads are cool too and Cat tails and tall grasses make it a haven for wildlife.

williejoha

Great shots Paul. Thanks for posting
WJH

sabfish

Terrific, as usual.

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

Geat shots Paul!

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Thank you bleirer, PixelStan77, Davidb1879, Dennis, Karin, Architect1776, Waterfall9, kpmac, Blair, williejoha, sabfish, nimbushopper! I want to call out the mantis as this is the first ever for me. The rest are traditional subjects for me from a new favorite spot on the edge of the lily pond. Glad you enjoyed and thank you all for your kind comments.

Jack B Loc: Mount Pleasant, SC

Enjoyed the excellent photos. Thanks for sharing.
Jack B